Drie soorten zeewier before 1892

This is an image of seaweed, carefully pressed and displayed in a book, by an anonymous artist. The act of collecting, classifying, and documenting nature became very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Consider the identities intertwined here. There is the scientist, often a wealthy, educated man, who sought to understand and control the natural world. But what about the local communities, including women and people of color, who possessed generational knowledge of these environments? Their expertise was often dismissed or appropriated. These seaweed pressings evoke a sense of loss. Preserved for study, they're removed from their original habitat. This act mirrors a broader colonial project, extracting resources and knowledge from distant lands, often with little regard for the impact on local populations. But there is also care and wonder in the act of preservation, a desire to capture the beauty and complexity of the natural world.