Sixteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The role of contemporary botanical art has progressed significantly from its traditionally recognized approaches. This form of art is no longer exclusively used for medical or botanical purposes. It has developed to enrich other fields of knowledge such as education and science communication. However, this contribution is still under-researched as a new domain. This paper maps the significant drivers and challenges that botanical art for environmental education purposes have encountered from the historic to the current times. A body of literature from various disciplines was reviewed, using theoretical works from humanities, botanical art, and environmental education. This study identified that contemporary botanical art has progressed beyond its traditional form as a state of scientifically correct and precise illustrations for scientific purposes or personal interests and aesthetic pleasure. There is a surge in interest to use contemporary botanical art to address urgent environmental issues from sustainability to the plant biodiversity of a specific ecological community. Thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were used to work with data and perform the results, which uncover the capabilities of contemporary botanical art for art-based environmental education. Moreover, the research provides a new vision, understanding and application of artworks for artists and an important base for researchers for further investigations in environmental sustainability.