How Long is Forever?

Alice: How long is forever?

White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second.

A new body of work by Toril Brancher produced during lockdown. The series continues the aesthetically motivated search which  previous shows, ‘End of Summer’, ‘Could the grass remember’ and ‘Llwyn Celyn’ celebrate. However, unlike previous bodies of work ‘How long is forever?’ also engages with the altered relationship with time which many of us experienced over the last year. The composition and scale of the images are part of a deeper exploration of the durational nature of flowers; their (and by proxy our own) relationship with the quantitative and qualitative nature of time. Each a kind of promise, that reoccurring and on-going promise that plants offer us, of time spent, time lost and time still to come.

The large-scale images enable a shift in perspective, bringing to light details not normally available to the naked eye or easily observed in a passing moment. Instead, the images draw you in, asking you to take the time to contemplate them and in turn yourself.

The durational nature of this body of work is not just in and of the time captured by the images, but also in the processes and technique involved in creating them. Each image is an imprint of the labour, care and circumstance which has brought these specific plants into being and into the possession of Brancher. Every plant has been grown in Brancher’s garden, whether from seed or seedling, they take weeks, months and sometimes years to develop. Many of the depicted plants are also gifts from dear friends or family, each relationship nurtured like a plant and equally subject to the same promise of time.