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Irina Neacșu is active at the intersection of botanical art and art historical research, developing a practice grounded in the study of cultural landscape, ecological aesthetics and the conceptual framework of the Anthropocene. Her work examines the historical entanglements of nature and culture, positioning botanical representation within broader debates on environmental perception and visual knowledge. Trained as a conservation architect, she has pursued sustained interdisciplinary research into the theory and preservation of cultural landscapes. This formation informs both the analytical rigour of her scholarly writing and the structural clarity of her visual production. Botanical art, in her case, does not function as decorative illustration but as a site of inquiry, integrating scientific observation with cultural interpretation and pedagogical engagement. In 2024–2025 she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship at the Department of the History of Art at Yale University, where her research consolidated the dialogue between visual practice and academic investigation. In 2025 she holds the Bonte Fellowship at the National Museum of Art of Romania, further anchoring her work within institutional art historical discourse. Her artistic achievements include a Silver Gilt Medal awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society in 2022, recognition that situates her practice within the international field of contemporary botanical art. Residencies at Oak Spring Garden Foundation and Denver Botanic Gardens have contributed to the development of projects that combine field study, archival research and studio practice. She has also undertaken teaching activity at New York Botanical Garden, Yale University and the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, alongside instruction within her own studio. Neacșu works primarily in watercolour and graphite on paper and vellum, employing techniques that privilege precision of line and chromatic restraint. Her works are held in private collections as well as in public institutions including the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, the Royal Horticultural Society Library, Oak Spring Garden Foundation and Denver Botanic Gardens. Through this dual commitment to research and artistic production, she articulates a coherent practice that situates botanical art within contemporary debates on heritage, ecology and visual culture.
