Flowers of the Moon is Sebastian Schutyser’s photographic study of the Rwenzori Mountains, the range on the border of present-day Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, associated with the ancient name “Mountains of the Moon.” Published by 5 Continents Editions in 2007, the book concentrates on the region’s Afroalpine vegetation: giant heathers, senecios, lobelias, and other plants whose scale and luxuriance give the highlands an uncanny visual character.
Schutyser approaches the Rwenzori less as a site to be inventoried than as a place whose atmosphere tests the conventions of documentary photography. His use of infrared photography transforms the landscapes and plants into ethereal, sometimes haunting images, emphasizing tonal strangeness and formal presence over straightforward description. The resulting pictures retain a connection to the physical world while also suggesting an environment that seems remote from ordinary human experience.
The book’s subject carries both geographical and historical resonance. Its waters form part of the Nile basin, while its distinctive flora makes the range especially notable among Africa’s high mountain environments. The project connects this geographical setting with an interest in the imaginative associations that mountains carry, allowing close botanical observation and the experience of an unfamiliar landscape to coexist. Alongside Schutyser’s photographs, the volume includes illustrations of major plants and maps of the area, providing a measured framework for the more atmospheric sequence.
For collectors, Flowers of the Moon merits attention as a focused example of photographic authorship moving between landscape observation, botanical study, and pictorial invention. Its 120 pages, hardcover format, and 28 × 24 cm proportions support a sustained encounter with the work, while the combination of 54 duotone and 13 black-and-white illustrations gives the book a deliberately restrained material vocabulary. It is a considered volume about a distinctive ecosystem—and about how photography can make that ecosystem appear both knowable and mysterious.
