The island is developing at an alarming rate. Concrete structures are coming up daily like mushrooms after the rain. This might seem sound economically but a terrible toll is being inflicted on our ecology. What is more, we are increasingly losing touch with Nature’s creations. Given this sad of state of affairs, Diane Henry’s macro-photography is an artistic way of reconnecting with the minutiae of Mother Nature’s labour of love.

Macro-photography may seem like a foreign premise to most people, but its concept is quite simple. It’s all about focusing on the little things, the details that we so easily take for granted. Think of a dewdrop on a palm leaf or the twirling yellow interior of a frangipani flower and you’ll understand what it’s all about. It’s what the Romantic poets lived for.

Once Diane has taken and perfected the photograph she wants, she prints it onto various sizes of canvas, which she then mounts onto a frame. For this lively young lady, printing her photographs of flowers and shells is a wonderful way of celebrating two of her passions: nature and photography. Her Deezeedeezign company was born from the marriage of the two.

“I inherited my love of nature from my grandmother. When I lived in Paris I loved black and white photography. A few years later, I moved to Australia to study interior decorating and worked with a guy who printed photographs onto different materials. I also met a girl who printed her photographs onto canvas and sold them to hotels.”

When she arrived back in Mauritius at the beginning of the year, Diane decided to start her own design company. At first, she photographed the flowers in her garden and then moved further afield to the florist’s, botanical gardens and other flora enthusiasts. Her collections now includes more than 60 vibrant, colourful and amazingly natural photographs-on-canvas. She reworks all her photographs on Photoshop but is adamant about the overriding necessity of keeping her models – the diverse flora of Mauritius – as true to nature as possible.

At first, her main customers were interior decorators and architects. As of late though, her reputation has spread by word of mouth and many house-owners want some of her works to brighten up their homes like so many hymns to nature. Let it be said that visiting her gallery, which is situated between the ancient walls of an old sugar mill, le Moulin Cassé, in Pereybère, is an adventure in itself. This journey through the past contrasts charmingly with her high-tech photography and printing equipment.

Influence of Malcolm de Chazal

She has also created a limited series of reproductions of the island’s greatest thinker and artist, Malcolm de Chazal’s paintings. Her first exhibition, which will be held at the mill on the 29 and 30 October and 1 November, will afford aficionados the opportunity of purchasing some of Malcolm’s chefs d’oeuvres and Diane’s odes to nature.

Since reproducing Malcolm’s works, Diane has started discovering some of his writings which, she says, “inspired me with even more respect for his vision”.

Diane identifies with one of his thoughts in particular. “The artist only possesses the art of colours whilst flowers also possess the science of colours. Painters, have, in the flower, the greatest art teacher. The man who has never felt the eyes of a flower looking upon him dares not call himself an artist, however grand might be his prestige and however incomparable may be his paintings.”

Upon leaving Deezeedeezign and the old mill, one senses that Malcolm’s words of wisdom were meant for Diane.