#mattersjournal

🌱plant of the week🌱 Known for their fragrant scent, this hybrid lily tends to have larger flowers than its Asiatic cousins, and is one of the few ‘true lilies’ in the world – many plants have ‘lily’ in their name but are not technically part of the lilium family. With bold, open petals, they come in a range of colours such as pink, yellow, white and purple. They are sometimes known as stargazer lilies as the flowers appear to look up towards the sky. Lilies are among the oldest cultivated plants, with evidence of cultivation in Asia dating as far back as the 2000 BC. They were grown by Ancient Greeks and Romans for both ornamental and medicinal purposes. 🌺🌺🌺 Lilies are toxic to cats, so keep them away from curious felines, however they are not known to be poisonous to humans and are still used in traditional medicines. Some lily bulbs are edible and similar to a starchy root vegetable, and can be found in Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese cuisines. In the Victorian language of flowers, lilies symbolise love, ardour and affection for loved ones. The Oriental variety prefers a cool, sheltered position, and planting time for bulbs is winter into spring. ... ... ... ... #mattersjournal #plantoftheweek #botanicalart #botanicalillustration #botanical #orientallily #orientallilies #stargazerlily #stargazerlilies https://www.instagram.com/p/CCr25f0nDME/?igshid=j55gwhvvkufz

Figure 4. The corpse into diamond. An interpretation of the @algordanzaaustralia process. 💎💎💎 If you or your loved ones have a spare $35k lying around, your dead body can become a family heirloom in the shape of a one-carat diamond. 💎💎💎 Read Mindful Burial in Matters Journal Issue 4, words by @hellonikkistefanoff (sorry for spamming you with tags while I post all of these!) 💎💎💎 ... ... ... ... #mattersjournal #naturalburial #algordanza #charcoaldrawing #charcoalart #artistsoninstagram #artist https://www.instagram.com/p/CCppZjtHv_v/?igshid=944fpa6kc57e

Figure 3 for an article on natural burial by @hellonikkistefanoff featured in Issue 4 of @mattersjournal ... This is a creative interpretation of the idea behind Coeio’s @infinityburial suit (which is mentioned in the article). The concept is the body is buried in a mushroom suit, the spores feed on the body and decompose it quickly and naturally. So creepy and cool! ... Would you consider being buried in a mushroom suit? 🍄🍄🍄 ... ... ... ... #mushroomart #mattersjournal #infinityburial #infinityburialsuit #infinityburialproject #naturaldeath #mycelium #charcoaldrawing #charcoalart #art #artist #artistsofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CClDuaTHTF4/?igshid=4p7ldvkwdckg

When you die, would you like to become a tree? The Capsula Mundi project put the ashes or body into a biodegradable pod, with a tree planted on top. 🌲⚰️🌳 ... ... Read about this and other natural burial options in @mattersjournal issue 4. Illustrations by me and words by @hellonikkistefanoff ... ... ... #mattersjournal #naturalburial #capsulamundi #illustration #charcoaldrawing #charcoalart #art #artistsoninstagram #futureofdeath https://www.instagram.com/p/CCQrELaHv13/?igshid=48ucy77x6vl8

“Natural burials traditionally follow five basic principles... there’s no embalming and the body is dressed and shrouded in fibres.” For @mattersjournal Issue 4, @hellonikkistefanoff wrote about natural burial options and I illustrated some of them. This one depict a body being buried in a simple shroud, which uses less energy and chemicals that are bad for the environment than the traditional embalming process ⚰️ You can buy issue 4 online and read about more natural burial options, as well as a lot of other fun things! ... ... ... ... #mattersjournal #naturalburial #charcoaldrawing #charcoalart #art #artistsoninstagram #artist #shroud #death #funeral https://www.instagram.com/p/CCNnm3mndmg/?igshid=1leodrzj5jqef

🍇🍇plant of the week!🍇🍇 You know why grapes are so great? Because without grapes, we wouldn’t have wine. And wine is delicious. In fact, the earliest evidence of human wine-making dates back 8,000 years, so humans have been enjoying a nice glass of red for a very long time. Yeast is one of the first domesticated microorganisms and occurs naturally on grape skins, leading to the discovery of alcoholic drinks. The oldest known winery dates back to 4000BC and is found in Armenia. Some other (read: less exciting) uses for grapes include drying the fruit to make raisins, sultanas and currants (the difference between the three is the type of grape used), and making grape juice, jelly, vinegar and grape seed oil. The vine leaves can be eaten with delicious fillings, such as rice or mince meat, and are popular in cuisines in the Middle East and Southeastern Europe. 🍷🍷🍷 Grapes are technically the berry of a grapevine and grow in clusters of 15 to 300. There are somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 different varieties, and they come in colours such as crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, orange and pink. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, around 75,866 square kilometres of the world are dedicated to grape growing, with 71% of grapes produced going to wine production. Grape vines make an excellent backyard cover in Australia, as the leaves that give sun protection in summer will fall off before winter, allowing more winter sunlight in. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be picking some grapes from our vine in the backyard and trying to brew some pinot in our bathtub. I’m sure my ancestors would be proud of me. 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹 #mattersjournal #plantoftheweek #vitisvinifera #wine #winemaking #botanicalart #botanical #botanicalillustration #grape #grapevine #art #artistsoninstagram #illustration #digitalillustration https://www.instagram.com/p/CB2aGa-njVT/?igshid=1jgxv0r4e3rln

🌱🌱plant of the week! 🌱🌱 One time I did a uni assignment on the topic ‘fruit and vegetable as sexual metaphor in Renaissance Italy’ and hoo boy, did I get to talk about figs a LOT. 🌱🌱🌱 Figs have historically been associated with femininity due to the anthropomorphic shape of their insides. Raphael and Caravaggio in particular liked to highlight the erotic associations of figs, peaches, melons and squash in their artwork. 🍑🍈🍆🍑🍈🍆🍑🍈🍆🍑🍈 The leaves have historically been used to cover up something perceived as ‘embarrassing’ or ‘distasteful’, such as in art to obscure genitalia. Adam and Eve supposedly used fig leaves to cover themselves in the Garden of Eden after eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The Catholic Church, starting with Pope Paul IV in 1557 and lasting for some 450 years, went on a rampage of statue genital removal in the Vatican, giving those poor statues a fig leaf replacement. (Side note: I think way too often about whether there’s a dusty box in some hidden closet in the Vatican filled with the removed marble penises.) 🌱🌱🌱 The edible fig is one of the first plants cultivated by humans, with fossils dating back as far as 9200-9400BC. Figs were common food in ancient Greece and ancient Rome, and cultivated from Portugal to Afghanistan and in parts of India. It spread to the Americas in the 15th Century and was brought to London in the 16th Century. Figs can be eaten fresh, dried, or made into jams and desserts. In 2018, the world production of raw figs was over 1.14 million tonnes. They like a warmer climate, and being situated in a dry and sunny location. The fruit won’t continue to ripen once picked, so they should be harvested when soft to the touch. ... ... ... ... #plantoftheweek #mattersjournal #plants #plantsmakepeoplehappy #fig #ficuscarica #botanicalart #botanical #botany #botanicalillustration #botanicalillustrations #art #artwork #artist #artistsoninstagram #digitalart #digitalillustration #figleaf #fruit https://www.instagram.com/p/CBje9ioHy_1/?igshid=1towc6t76vbh7

A little comic for the back cover of @mattersjournal Issue 4. The theme was ‘learning the future’, in my head the future has robot teachers who definitely won’t be sending subliminal messages to kids. 🤖🤖🤖 (P.s. that binary is actually readable - I’ll buy you a beer if you can guess what it says 👀) ... ... ... ... #mattersjournal #thefutureoflearning #learningthefuture #comic #teaching #robot #magazine https://www.instagram.com/p/CBB7leaHUNu/?igshid=1fo8ovebk7xql