BEATRICE HASTINGS
(1838 - 1892)
Beatrice Hastings was a British botanical illustrator, primarily recognised for her comprehensive studies and detailed illustrations focusing on fungi.

She made groundbreaking discoveries in previously unidentified fungi species during her explorations throughout Europe and North America: most famously, she identified a previously undocumented bioluminescent species she named Luminifera Sylvatica, now extinct.

In the 1870s, her husband tried to claim her work as his own but failed to convince the scientific community due to his lack of expertise and vague explanations.

Because of her husband's attempts to overshadow her, Beatrice Hastings' work remains largely undocumented and unknown to botanists and mycologists. However, her body of work is gradually gaining recognition as a testament to her skill and dedication as a botanical illustrator and researcher.

UNSEEN FLORA
Part of the wider Artificial Botany (2019) series, Unseen Flora (2023) shines a spotlight on the fantastical and surreal botanical illustrations created by four British scientists and artists: Charlotte Bancroft, Beatrice Hastings, Edmund Thorne and Theodore Winslow.

The series has as its focus the concept of truth, contextualised in the contemporary digital age where the boundaries between real and virtual seem to become more and more obscure. Unseen Flora wants to explore unreal but plausible histories through the visual depictions of the four illustrators, offering us an unprecedented glimpse into their imaginary botanical dimensions.

Founded in 2007, fuse* is a multidisciplinary art studio that investigates the expressive possibilities of emerging technologies, aiming to interpret the complexity of human, social and natural phenomena. Since its origins, the studio’s research has had as its primary objective the creation of multimedia installations and performances, produced with the goal of exploring the boundaries between different disciplines in pursuit of new connections between light, space, sound and movement.

fuse* private collection