Flora Palaestina

The book Flora Palaestina by artist Nurit Gur Lavy (Karni) encompasses a selection of her art devoted to painting the flowers and plants of the Land of Israel. In botanical terminology "flora" denotes the entire plant life occurring in a particular place (region, country, etc.) or an extensive scientific publication that classifies plants. Flora Palaestina, then, refers to the plant life in the Land of Israel. But the book before us is by no means a botanical scientific publication, for this treasury of flowers does not depict the flowers' structure, their families, habitats, dispersion, or seasons. In contrast with a practical plant finder, in this compilation of paintings the squill does not stand for all squills, the anemone does not represent all anemones, nor does the bellflower all bellflowers. Here each flower attests only to itself, for in each and every one of them carries the imprint of the personal story, the history of the place, the social issues, the pulse of current events, and the human experience – as these are embodied in botany in the artist's work.
---Ron Bartos