"Catharanthus roseus"
Selenium Tone Silver Gelatin Contact Print from a Polaroid Type 55 Negative, Signed
1992
5" x 7" (unframed)
12.5" x 11" (framed)

About the Piece
"Catharanthus roseus" was part of "Plants that Heal," a collaboration with Delaney and Cochran (now Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture). A set of cards with photographs and descriptions explained the contents of the healing garden in a courtyard adjacent to Marin (California) General Hospital's Cancer Care Center. As a medicinal plant, Catharanthus roseus, popularly known as Madagascar periwinkle, has a long history of usage in traditional medicine and contemporary usage in drug development. Plants in the garden were licensed sources of pharmaceuticals used in various cancer treatments. A photograph from this series graced the cover of Landscape Architecture Magazine in June 1994, when the project received an Excellence Award in the category of graphic design from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

About the Artist
Marion Brenner's photographs of landscape design have appeared internationally in magazines, including Gardens Illustrated, T, Landscape Architecture Magazine, and Garden Design. Books of her photographs include Private Gardens of the Bay Area, Outstanding American Gardens, The Bold Dry Garden, New Garden Design, Living Land, and In and Out of Paris. She has received a grant from the Graham Foundation to photograph eighteenth-century Jardins Anglais in France. Her photographs are in the collections of the Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Berkeley Art Museum. She lives in Berkeley, California.

https://marionbrenner.com/