CHRISTOPH KELLER Christoph Keller, Introduction | Page 20

BAALBEK BRAZIL SERIES, 2018
Baalbek Brazil Series, 2018
Digital Fine Art inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
50 x 300 cm approx. (overall)
ca. 50 x 300 cm (Installation)
Edition of 4
(CK 269)
The work consists of five prints. The background of each image depicts archeological ruins and cultural
artefacts of Baalbek in Lebanon, an important cultural center of both the Roman Empire and early
Christianity, known as Heliopolis. These photographs are inverted reproductions of images that the
artist has found in history books.
Images of different flora specimens in vivid color are superimposed on the black and white photographs
of the Lebanese ruins, that creates the impression of a herbarium—a collection of plants kept in-
between book pages. As the title hints, the plants come from Brazil and were collected by the artist
in the Mata Atlântica. This rainforest, stretching along the Atlantic coast of Brazil, is one of the most
important biodiverse areas on Earth, yet is highly endangered, with only 7% of its original surface left.
The work is related to Christoph Keller’s larger Anarcheology cycle, as well as his research about
the Yanomami, an Amazonian tribe that has no understanding of historical time as it is traditionally
conceptualized in Western Europe. It also refers to the concept of plants as the first migrant—an idea
outlined by the French gardener, botanist, and writer Gilles Clément—and to other often overlooked
ties between natural and social histories.
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