The subject of my next phase of work will be the Pilea Peperomioides plant. I received a cutting from a friend a couple of years ago and was immediately taken by its distinctive look. It has become a darling of lifestyle magazines and Pinterest boards in recent years and as I kept seeing it pop up over and over again I decided to do a little digging around its rise to internet stardom.

My curiosity was rewarded, as it turns out that Pilea Peperomioides (Missionary Plant / Pass It On / Chinese Money Plant) has a great modern folktale associated with it. The main narrative of my project will focus around an article on the subject I found in a 1984 edition of Kew Magazine.

Like my Major Project Proposal, this story focuses on the underlying folklore associated with a seemingly commonplace plant. While my main project focuses on ancient folklore, this story is very much a modern folk tale.

I’ve decided to start keeping this blog to keep track of my progress while I work through the next phase of my MA Illustration practice. I have set myself a bit of an ambitious target for this module and will use this platform to record my research, inspiration, visual studies and experiments.