Courtesy of Jan Mayo
Art and science come together in Faces and Flora, a series of photographic portraits that pair native plants with human faces.
Inside Intermediatheque’s Grey Cube space in Tokyo, Jan Mayo’s photo exhibition Faces and Flora: Philippines and Japan Native Plant Photography opens. Running from July 12 to November 9, 2025, the special exhibition brings together art and science to showcase native plant species from the two countries.
The exhibition builds on Mayo’s 2024 show at the National Museum of Natural History in Manila, expanding it with new works photographed in Japan. Each species is presented in a triptych format: a still life of the plant, a portrait that incorporates it, and a corresponding herbarium specimen.
Mayo’s background in fashion and beauty photography shaped his approach. “I wanted to highlight what is naturally Filipino,” he shares. “And what’s most naturally Filipino are the species, the plants and animals, that live there.”
The project began as a grant proposal, eventually becoming a full exhibition in Manila in 2024 before traveling to Japan with new images that include native Japanese flora. Working closely with botanists, researchers, and creatives from both countries, Mayo sought to reflect the environments that shape, and are shaped by, our ways of seeing.
For the Japanese phase, he worked with botanists from the University of Tokyo’s Koishikawa Botanical Garden to study and photograph species during spring. His method involved coordinating with researchers for plant selection and preservation, while also working with local creatives to develop the visual elements of each portrait.
“I wanted to show what these plants look like before they’re dried and stored,” Mayo explains. “It’s also about what happens when creative work and scientific study come together.”
The exhibition aligns with Intermediatheque’s Art & Science programming, which explores how creative and academic disciplines inform each other. While the photographs maintain an editorial sensibility, they are structured with the clarity and neutrality typical of botanical study. Lighting and composition were chosen to present plants as they are, with a focus on structure, proportion, and texture, rather than abstraction.
Cultural differences between the Philippines and Japan shaped both the process and the final images. In Manila, Mayo invited celebrities to participate in the project, using visibility to encourage engagement with botanical subjects. In Tokyo, he adapted to local working styles and creative interpretations, allowing them to bring their cultural references into the shoot.
One of the plants featured in the series is Clerodendrum quadriloculare, also known as the starburst bush or bagawak morado. Though it grows in parts of Metro Manila, it is often overlooked. Mayo’s interest in this species reflects a larger aim of the exhibition: to make native flora more visible, both in public spaces and in cultural narratives.
Faces and Flora coincides with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Japan, and is part of the Philippines-Japan Friendship Month 2025. It also represents a continuing academic partnership between the two museums. While rooted in documentation, the project invites audiences to consider the broader relationship between nature, identity, and shared knowledge.
