Where Science Meets Art: the Botanical illustrations of Rod Seppelt

Botanical illustration has been used to identify plants since the times of the ancient herbals.
To this day, botanical illustrations accompany and enhance written descriptions and help us to recognise plants and communicate effectively about them.
Professor Rod Seppelt of the Tasmanian Herbarium is one of Australia’s most accomplished botanical illustrators, and this exhibition presents several of his illustrations of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).
The Tasmanian Herbarium holds an important collection of over 35,000 botanical specimens collected from Antarctica and the subantarctic islands.
Many were collected by Professor Seppelt himself, who participated in extensive expeditions and research in these areas.
He has painstakingly transformed these miniature life forms into the extremely detailed and magnified ink drawings on show in Where Science Meets Art.
Image: Rod Seppelt, Hypopterygium didictyon, ink on polyester drafting film, collection of the artist.