In the Night Garden

Immerse yourself in a colorful botanical world full of giant insects, flowers, and plants created by Houston–based artist and Rice University professor Natasha Bowdoin. Inspired by the Carter’s collection and the artist’s abounding interest in literature, from fairytales to transcendental poetry, In the Night Garden defies the senses, offering us a moment to pause and reimagine our relationship to the natural world.

In the Night Garden draws together inspiration from the Carter’s 19th-century paintings, botanical prints, and archival materials with the artist’s broader interests, ranging from children’s book illustrations and Greco-Roman mythology to comic books and textile design. 

Created from cut paper and collaged boards, a large-scale installation made of buoyant yet looming oversized vegetation is accompanied by intricate watercolors that exude ecological fantasies and upend traditional feminine associations with botanical themes.