Revealing Biodiversity: Poster Art by Ricardo Kriebel

Revealing Biodiversity
Poster Art by Ricardo Kriebel

February – May 2026

Please join us for the artist’s reception on Sunday, February 8, 3-5pm.

The Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture is pleased to present a new exhibition, Revealing Biodiversity: Poster Art by Ricardo Kriebel.

The diversity of plants at the San Francisco Botanical Garden and Golden Gate Park is truly remarkable, providing an exceptional open classroom to learn about plant biology. Sharing the hundreds to thousands of species in the area in a small space for comparison and learning is challenging. Using what he calls biodiversity posters, curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences Dr. Ricardo Kriebel portrays as many species as possible from the garden together in two posters, as well as stand-alone posters highlighting particularly diverse groups in the garden such as Fuchsia, Rhododendron, Salvia, and Magnolia. Additional posters in the exhibit will include the native plants of San Francisco at SFBG and the mosses and plants of Golden Gate Park.

Tucked into the posters, the observer will find fascinating plant biology, including how flowers move during their life and how some species can present pollen not directly with their stamens but with their petals and stigmas in a phenomenon called secondary pollen presentation. All posters are made with photographs taken by the artist during the past 4 years, and this is his first time exhibiting his art.

Artist Statement

For 25 years I have been photographing biodiversity with a particular interest in plants. I started in Costa Rica, where I am from, which resulted in a field guide of the Gesneriaceae of Costa Rica. Since then, I have found that posters are an open field guide that can not only reach a broad audience but can also be used to decorate with biodiversity. Some of the posters I have produced over the years include 1) the plants of San José, Costa Rica; 2) plants of Madison, Wisconsin; 3) plants of the Central Sierra, California; and 4) Salvia of the world.

“Biodiversity is a word we hear a lot these days, and my hope with my scientific art is to put a face to this biodiversity so all people have a chance to experience it …”

Biodiversity is a word we hear a lot these days, and my hope with my scientific art is to put a face to this biodiversity so all people have a chance to experience it and will then be motivated to conserve it and our amazing planet. This introduction to biodiversity is just the beginning because all these species have interesting stories, but we need to know their names to access those stories, and the posters help in this respect. In addition to making posters, I conduct research at the California Academy of Sciences on the taxonomy and evolution of princess flowers and sages.