If this book hadn't appeared, I probably wouldn't have known about her.
[1] [Margaret Mi] her people
In 2012, Brazil launched a documentary "Margaret Mee and the Moonflower", the protagonist is a nearly 80-year-old botanical artist, although the years have carved marks on her face, but this white-haired old lady is full of childhood love, purity and dedication to nature, let us witness her seriousness and concentration.
Sadly, the great woman named Margaret Mee died more than 20 years ago, and Margaret Mee and the Moonflower chronicles her last trip to the Amazon.
Born in 1909, Margaret M. Mi was born in 1909 and spent many years immersing herself in art school before embarking on the second half of her legendary life, as well as working as a draftsman for the aircraft manufacturing company De Havilland halfway through (during World War II).
After marrying her classmate Greville Mee, she took her husband's surname and changed her name to Margaret Mille.
Had it not been for the 1952 expedition, Ms. Margaret's life would have been as bland as the average person's. That year, she and her husband went to Brazil to visit their sister, was attracted by the scenery there, and then settled in Brazil with her husband for a time.
In this way, Margaret and her husband should belong to the "leisure class", otherwise, such a wayward "complete change of occupation" and "freedom of residence" are not enjoyable to ordinary families.
As a result, this British lady with a solid family and artistic talent in painting gradually began a new career as a "plant artist". By 1956, at the age of 47, she had unlocked a new profession as an explorer and stepped into the mysterious Brazilian rainforest for the first time!
Many people will think that exploring the Amazon rainforest is a leisurely and happy thing, but in fact, Margaret's adventures at that time have to face various unpredictable risks, not only from the invisible primitive animals and plants such as piranhas with white bones and poisonous spiders in an instant, but also from disobedient companions (such as local indigenous guides), or unexpectedly encountered malicious explorers (or poachers).
None of this, however, stopped Margaret Mi from her curiosity and love for the flowers, trees, birds and animals of the Amazon rainforest, and over the next 32 years, she went deep into the Amazon rainforest 15 times, dedicating the rest of her life to plant science and environmental protection.
The most important of the objects that accompanied Margaret along the way was a pistol, and the most priceless was probably her sketchbook, brush and paint. During the expedition, Margaret will draw a sketch of the plant on the spot, carefully preserve the plant and take it home, and then complete the final color draft. Today, we can still see some of her species in research centers in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
It is worth mentioning that 9 of the plants that were recorded were never known before, and now these are named after Margaret – now you know the origin of Margaret's ornithischild orchid and Margaret's rosewood, right?
Margaret's hard work has not been betrayed by the world, and various honors are an affirmation of herself, and the awards she has won are as follows:
1971 · Guggenheim Prize
1976 · Order of the Order of the British Empire
1979 · Order of the Southern Cross of the Republic of Brazil
1986 · Honorary member of the Linnaeus Society, London
1990 · United Nations Environmental Protection Award
Ms. Margaret's life came to an abrupt end on November 30, 1988 – before that, she was actively preparing for her 16th Amazon Rainforest Expedition. At the memorial service held later, Prince Philip of the United Kingdom and Brazilian dignitaries were present to mourn.
[2] Forever "Forest Flower"
Speaking of which, the sudden death of Margaret Mee is truly regrettable, as she died in a traffic accident on the evening of November 30, 1988.
Died in a car accident, not at the end of his life.
When I read this background information, I was very unhappy. "Good people don't live long", is this really the case?
Perhaps, in another way, a person who does not know that his life will end, and then suddenly leaves, can also be regarded as a kind of not so painful ending!
After Margaret's death, it can be said that she has left a lot of posterity, such as her great female figure, the adventurous spirit of adventure, the spirit of indomitable struggle, and her rich adventure notes and exquisite color paintings.
Although the human body is not eternal, what she leaves behind can be eternal.
For example, her book "Flowers of the Forest".
This "Flower of the Forest" is not only a book of Amazon rainforest adventure notes, but also a collection of 160 botanical paintings painted by Margaret Mi herself, which is another respect and remembrance of posterity after more than 30 years!
However, this "Forest Flower" does not include all the difficulties and dangers that Margaret encountered, and the whole book gives people the feeling of purity and beauty- pure is the text, and the beautiful is the picture.
Words and color paintings cast a magic on the reader through time and space, so that we can feel the charm of the primeval jungle, as if we can see colorful flowers and plants, magical animals, calm down, and listen to birds singing not far away.
In addition to these poetic depictions of nature, Margaret also recorded her heartache of being powerless in the face of the continuous destruction of the forest, and her voice for environmental protection — although it was only a text, but the white-haired old man waved his fist like a heroine, and issued a righteous rebuke to the bad guys.
The Financial Times once commented that -
"Margaret Mi guarded the Amazon forest with a paintbrush and a pistol."
May we have the opportunity to carefully read the works of this guardian and feel the power of the words and the colors. ...
[3] The collection of "Flowers of the Forest" refers to the north
Usually I would refer to this part as "Reading Pointing North", but this time I changed my words to something else. As a large book with postcards, posters, exquisite shells, beautifully printed, and well-papered, Flowers of the Forest was designed more like a collectible, ornament or gift.
Objectively speaking, if the reader buys this book only as a storybook, he may finish reading it - the picture is more like a side dish, some are pleasing to the eye, and if not, it does not seem to weaken its own storytelling.
At the end of 2021, many publishers have launched "plant aesthetic hardcover books" similar to "Forest Flowers", and the target audience is naturally those gentle women who are full of hope for life and still have the heart of a girl.
These readers who have a vision of daily life naturally hope that reading books is to obtain an experience of "beauty", not only the words and pictures in the book, but also the appearance and accompanying intentions of the book. I think this set of "Forest Flowers" is definitely the most sincere in all aspects.
As mentioned earlier, this book is actually the Botanical Notes of the British botanical painter Margaret Mi, and all the reader has to do is follow those words, all the way to see the beautiful flowers in the Amazon rainforest, and then, close the book, reminisce about the "adventure", lament that the world has such a wonderful, it is a forest full of life and danger, colorful and dangerous, people yearn for but difficult to pluck up the courage to take the first step.
So, think about how beautiful life is now, how happy it is to be able to have a safe and colorful dream in your own little world!
In short, this book is more suitable for female readers, and for male readers, buying "Forest Flower" to read by yourself is a bit of a luxury, and seems to be more suitable for gifts, because —
In case the follow-up can successfully deceive the girl's heart, people get it, and the book also gets it, isn't it beautiful?