Liz DeCoste
ARTIST PORTFOLIO

Naturalia Print Line etching, soft ground, and aquatint intaglio processes Scientific illustration of natural specimens.

Specufabula is a neologism posed by Helen Palmer in her article “Speculative Taxonomies”. It refers to speculative fabulation that can be applied to taxonomic systems in order for new worlds and materialisms to be imagined in the context of diverse epistemes and transversality. The artwork in this project engages with a speculative approach to system-making through the methodology and content of collection. Mobilising recognizable aesthetics rooted in museological and scientific histories, the artist injects poetics into the rigidity of classification systems in order to question how knowledge is codified within them. Visual aesthetics and poetry enable each piece to explore the physical and conceptual history of my collected natural objects through an imaginative lens.


Palmer, Helen. "Speculative Taxonomies", Philosophy Today, 2020. DOI: doi.org/10.5840/philtoday2020128314 




Earthsong (drawer). 2022. Found bones, feathers, shells, glass, paper, plant matter, and stones in printer's typeset drawer.

Installation view of Earthsong and Naturalia at Gallery 1313

Naturalia Print Line etching, soft ground, and aquatint intaglio processes Scientific illustration of natural specimens.

Naturalia. 2021.

Etching, soft ground, and aquatint on paper.

Microcosm. 2021. Stone lithograph.

Osteological Effigies. 2021. Stone lithograph.

 A Pocket Guide to A Collection of Flowers, Rocks, and Bones. Thesis publication, 60 pages, 8x5". 

Earthsong (card catalogue). 2022. Letterpress on cardstock, wood and brass. To view the full text, follow this link.

Osteological Effigies, installation view at GradEx 107

Installation view at Grad Ex 107

Specufabula is a neologism posed by Helen Palmer in her article “Speculative Taxonomies”. It refers to speculative fabulation that can be applied to taxonomic systems in order for new worlds and materialisms to be imagined in the context of diverse epistemes and transversality. The artwork in this project engages with a speculative approach to system-making through the methodology and content of collection. Mobilising recognizable aesthetics rooted in museological and scientific histories, the artist injects poetics into the rigidity of classification systems in order to question how knowledge is codified within them. Visual aesthetics and poetry enable each piece to explore the physical and conceptual history of my collected natural objects through an imaginative lens.


Palmer, Helen. "Speculative Taxonomies", Philosophy Today, 2020. DOI: doi.org/10.5840/philtoday2020128314 




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