Codex Marginalia 5, 2023

‘Marginalia’ is the term for notes and drawings made in the margins of old texts. A recurring image in works attempting to expand on scientific enquiry were zoophytes – plant/animal hybrids, indicating early attempts at making sense of the natural world at a time when the knowledge of the Enlightenment period was still centuries away. Organisms such as corals, sponges, starfish, and earthworms were thought to straddle the boundary between the plant and animal world. Early natural history is replete with strange creatures and tales of creation.