Kari Englehardt

Statement: HORTUS REMEDIUM

2024

Post-industrial land use has often left our shared ecosystem disturbed and degraded causing an absence of native plants necessary to support biodiversity. A particular example of this is the over 3.5 million abandoned and orphaned oil and gas drill sites across the US. The process of plugging these legacy wells to mitigate current and future environmental impacts is overwhelming. HORTUS REMEDIUM is an illustrated study of plants proven to be effective petroleum phytoremediators and their dependent wildlife. Could these specimens be part of a plant-based solution- revegetating contaminated soils, and returning these compromised sites to productive ecosystems?

This is my hopeful visual lens into an area of research and environmental concern worthy of more attention and wider understanding.

‘Phytoremediators” are plants that can naturally mitigate, translocate or accumulate dangerous environmental toxins from soil, air and/or water over time.