AUTUMN LEAVES

AUTUMN LEAVES began during the South African lockdown of 2020, as autumn arrived and the deciduous trees surrounding

Mike Rossi's home began shedding their leaves.

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Living outside the city, Mike's quarantine was one of trees, bushes, birds and wildlife. With time to observe what was

happening around him, he began watching the leaves fall.

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But he didn't simply see leaves.

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Some gyrated as they fell. Others oscillated in the wind or pirouetted towards the ground. In the shapes and gestures of those that had completed their journey, Mike began to see dancers, fighters, characters and occasionally something altogether more curious.

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Collected and photographed against black, the leaves were removed from their familiar surroundings. Colour, texture, decay and form

became more pronounced, and the personalities Mike had begun to see within them came forward.

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The photographs became the starting point for an ongoing collaboration between Mike and Chris, with Chris establishing

the visual editing that brought them together as a collection. Titles became an important part of that process,

not simply describing what had been photographed, but reflecting what they saw within each arrangement.

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There was beauty too in the leaves that had become damaged, sodden or desiccated.

Browns became flecked with gold and lavender;

decay created new textures and forms.

As Mike wrote of them:

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“You are not ugly. You are beautiful.”

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The 17 photographs presented here were selected for exhibition at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa,

where they were shown as a two-wall installation.