Immortal Flowers
Project details
- Year
- 2023
- Programme
- Bachelor – Transformation Design
- Practices
- social
- Minor
- New Earth
Death, often seen as a fearful concept, intimidates many. Our instinct leads us to freeze nature in an attempt to preserve its fleeting beauty. However, the natural world follows its own rules.
Inspired by the philosophy of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, this work takes on a cynically nuanced approach, aiming to start a thought process of realisation and a mindset of appreciation.
Immortal Flowers confront our mortality and longing to preserve fleeting moments. They portray how humans perceive the malleability of nature and life. The flowers urge reflection on the nature of our desires—to appreciate life’s transient beauty while yearning for its eternal preservation. The work tells us to embrace the natural rhythms of existence, acknowledging that while we can momentarily suspend time, the impermanence of life remains an undeniable truth.
The installation features white chrysanthemum flowers, their petals, and stems coated in a layer of silicone. The presence of silicone, an artificial substance contrasting with the organic elements of the flower, highlights human intervention, signifying our desire to assert dominance over nature, disrupting its inherent rhythms and cycles, while representing the desire for permanence and immortality.
The immortalised flowers visually represent our complex relationship with time’s passage and the inevitability of death. It invites contemplation on the tension between our desire for permanence and the profound beauty found in embracing life’s transient nature.