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Faux Flora

On view October 9, 2026 – September 12, 2027
Third Floor, West Galleries

Faux Flora imagines new flowering plant species through artwork blending scent, sound, and visuals. Each flower in this multisensory exhibition stirs emotions and invites distinct experiences, combining well-known Icelandic motifs and fragrances into an inventive botanical landscape.

Image from Faux Flora exhibition of dried grass over a dark background.

Credit: Jim Bennett/Photo Bakery for the National Nordic Museum

Forms of life intertwine in this exhibition created by Iceland-based Fischersund Art Collective, progressing through five chapters referencing germination, growth, flowering, seed formation, and dispersal. Each chapter mirrors the stages of human life: birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and death.
 
Visitors will experience these imagined flowers through sight, scent, and sound. Fischersund identifies each plant in the exhibition, drawing on botanical treatises spanning centuries, and presents it alongside contemporary portrayals of flowers in video art and hand-painted photography. These visuals are paired with perfume, a primary artistic medium for the Fischersund Art Collective, which provides important olfactory information for plant identification. A soundscape composed for the exhibition marks the culmination of the sequential, time-bound journey within Faux Flora.

“Faux Flora illustrates the five life cycles of a plant, with a twist — 
the plants are born from human memories and experiences
rather than seed and earth.”
-Rachel Gallaher, Seattle Magazine

"The show's abstract sonic landscapes — calm, galactic sound waves resounding through the space —  add an otherworldliness to the experience... 'Faux Flora' feels like a gift of respite."
- Margo Vansynghel, The Seattle Times

All images by Jim Bennett/Photo Bakery for the National Nordic Museum.

About the artists:

Fischersund is a Reykjavík-based perfumery and art collective whose artistic board includes siblings Jónsi, Lilja Birgisdóttir, Sigurrós Birgisdóttir and Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir, along with Sindri and Kjartan Holm. Working across fragrance, music, photography, digital and fine art and graphic design, the collective brings together distinct creative practices. Jónsi is a visual artist, musician and self-taught perfumer; Sigurrós is a perfumer and lead artisan; Ingibjörg works across painting, sculpture, digital graphics, video and photography; and Lilja’s multidisciplinary practice includes photography, performance, video, sound and installation.

Sponsors

Fischersund: Faux Flora has been organized by the National Nordic Museum, Seattle, in collaboration with the artists. The national tour has been made possible through generous support from Icelandair.

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