Description

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A book of deeply personal and lush photographs, drawings, and writing, Blue Violet is Cig Harvey's celebration of the natural world and the senses.

Blue Violet is a vibrant meditation on the procession of seasons, sensory abundance, and the magic in everyday life. Part art book, botanical guide, historical encyclopedia, and poetry collection, Blue Violet is a compendium of beauty, color, and the senses. Plants, flowers, and our experience of the natural world are the threads that tie this unique book together. Exploring the five senses, Blue Violet takes the reader on a personal journey through nature and the range of human emotions. As with her previous three titles--You Look At Me Like An Emergency, Gardening at Night, and You an Orchestra You a Bomb--this book invites the reader to pause, laugh, cry, create, and become more aware of the natural world. Images and text in a variety of forms (prose poetry, recipes, lists, research pieces, diagrams) focus on immediate experience to understand the vibrancy of the senses on memory and feelings. 

About the Author

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Cig Harvey is an artist who uses images and language to explore sensory experience and elevate the everyday. Rich in implied narrative, deeply rooted in the natural world, her work is devoted to the topic of what it is to feel. Her work has been reviewed and featured in The New York Times, BBC, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, Vice, The Sunday Times, The Independent, Marie Claire Italia, and New York. She is the author of three previous monographs, You Look At Me Like An Emergency, Gardening at Night, and You an Orchestra You a Bomb. 
In 2017, Cig was awarded the prestigious Excellence in Teaching Award from CENTER, an international organization that honors, supports, and provides opportunities for gifted and committed photographers. In 2018, she was named the Prix Virginia Laureate, an international photography award based in Paris and in 2019, a mid-career retrospective of her work appeared at the Ogunquit Museum of Art.
Jacoba Urist is a journalist living in New York. She writes regularly about art and architecture for The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Galerie and The New York Times, among other publications. She has covered the art market in New York and Los Angeles for The Art Newspaper, and is a contributing editor for Cultured.

Praise For…

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Featured in The New York Times 2021 Wirecutter Holiday Gift Guide

“[A] new and noteworthy visual book.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A glorious, sensual, poignant collection of botanical photographs, drawings and writings, which is part-art book, part-historical guide and part-poetry collection.”
—Financial Times

“An immersive experience of color, beauty, emotion and text.”
—Lenscratch

“Blue Violet is Harvey’s very personal contemplation on plants, flowers and our experience of the natural world. Exploring a range of human emotions, the book offers images and text in a variety of forms (prose poetry, recipes, lists, research pieces, diagrams), focusing on immediate experience, and on the vibrancy of the senses on memory and feelings.”
—GUP Magazine

“A gorgeous book . . . that also doubles as interesting decor on a coffee table. The book is filled with deeply personal and lush photographs, drawings, and writings, and is . . . unique and immersive, with an emphasis on plants and the natural world.”
—Romper

“This book is a dream.”
—Stella Bugbee, Editor-at-Large, The Cut

“In her highly creative new monograph, artist Cig Harvey uses her camera to capture the magic of everyday life and bring a new perspective to plants, flowers and nature. Combining art book, botanical guide, historical encyclopaedia and poetry collection in one, Blue Violet is a real feast for the senses.” 
—Wildflower Magazine
 
“Blue Violet is an explosion of color and sensorial delight. Flip through and you’ll learn about Cig’s favorite color (pink), the secret to forcing blossoms in the middle of the winter (changing the water daily and loudly expressing a desperate desire for spring might play a role) and how to make delicious meals that, you guessed it, involve eating flowers. All wrapped among some of her most gorgeous imagery to-date.”
—Loves Art Will Travel blog

“It pulls from poetry, recipes, lists, diagrams, and more as an invitation to explore your senses, the natural world, memory, and feelings. It’s a good one.”
—Design Crush

“Renowned photographer Cig Harvey continues her exploration of sensory perception through images and language in Blue Violet.”
—Santa Fe New Mexican

“When Cig Harvey's friend was diagnosed with leukemia, she resolved to help her the best way she could – through her art.”
—The Telegraph

“Still lifes, landscapes, and portraiture, all rendered in moody, saturated colors, are accompanied by tender musings on the connections among emotions and the five senses.” 
—Publishers Weekly

“A stunning narrative of grief-inspired works, combining photos, texts, and doodles.” 
—Popular Photography