“The whole world is a cactus, and I pride myself on knowing it. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch…”

Cacti are plants that exhibit an astonishing morphological adaptation to extreme living conditions: most live in arid regions, where rainfall is infrequent but dew is present, where periods of drought are long, and where there is intense solar radiation.

Leaves are absent, scale-like, or small and fall off quickly. The flowers are relatively primitive, with numerous floral parts that are not clearly distinguished between sepals and petals, arranged in a spiral. The Cactaceae family comprises approximately 2,000 species divided into 70 to 87 genera, distributed among 3 subfamilies (text taken from the website www.aujardin.info).

This photographic series aims to transcend the richness of forms and colors within the Cactaceae family. Through the shift in spatial scale brought about by the systematic use of macrophotography, I seek to create, from the vast (bio)diversity of this plant family, an infinity of strange worlds: colors and their improbable combinations; contrasts between the softness and curves of the flowers and the violence and rigidity of the spines; perfect geometric forms, surprising combinations on the same plant…