Ghost Orchid
2026
two channel video, color, sound, aluminum framed backlit screens, 23:05min
two channel video, color, sound, aluminum framed backlit screens, 23:05min
I recently graduated from the MFA programme at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, where my degree project, Ghost Orchid, explored the ghosts of nature and the politics of visibility. In the 23-minute film, I search for the elusive Ghost Orchid by filming in places where it might exist: the orchid collection in the historic greenhouse at the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, and the Swedish forests where the rare European species has occasionally been recorded. I also set up moth traps in an attempt to locate the orchid's pollinator. Despite spending nights waiting, no moths appeared, and I never found the orchid itself.
The work gradually shifted from documenting a search to reflecting on absence, desire and the limits of representation. Looking at nature through a queer perspective became a way of questioning biological and patriarchal narratives centred on reproduction, productivity and consumption. The Ghost Orchid came to represent a form of nonconforming erotic force, a figure that resists categorisation and destabilises established hierarchies of value.
The questions of what is visible, valued and explored have stayed with me ever since. Through the camera lens and through light as a space of tension. I have repeatedly searched for things that remained invisible, only to encounter other forms of presence instead. What determines which species are considered worthy of attention? What remains unseen, and why? How do technologies of vision shape our understanding of nature?
