EMERGENT FLORESCENCE
I wanted to capture the essence of something that can thrive on its own so I chose a cherry tree outside of a park by my house. With these images, I wanted to depict the current shift in our society. We live in a time where, as we all struggle, nature can thrive, especially with the increased lack of human interaction. As the beautiful petals fall on the concrete of a damaged and isolated neighborhood, we may be reminded that nature does not need us to retain its beauty.
I think it’s fascinating to observe a flowering plant in black and white, it unquestionably discards the undeniable beauty that we ordinarily acknowledge in a flower. But, with the context, it makes it more interesting. The black and white imagery of a flowering tree appears to address how we all are feeling and the imagery definitely has a melancholy to it although it is of something beautiful and elegant. The hints of the odd plastic gloves, the sad face with the mask all add to this sadness and grittiness that the images have. At first, this was not my intention. I did not purposefully try to make my images look gloomy. I wanted more of a desolate and exposed theme because flowers cannot control how they are photographed, and with the current crisis, I wanted to show desertedness and how people were hidden away in their homes. But in turn, when humans are taken out of the equation, of course, everything is going to look far more deserted than it actually is. It also helps that they’re in black and white, I think that adds to the mystery.
Having to encapsulate the beauty of something that changes over time on its own with help from no one is truly a gift. I like that my images tell a story of the flowers on the trees, then the photos shift and tell the same story but of the flowers falling off the tree. I used this set up to show that beauty comes and goes. I look forward to spring because I get to see the beauty of everything growing and it gets warm. I resent winter because after that beauty is gone and it begins to get cold, I have nothing to look forward to when I go outside. I chose to photograph this tree because even when I am away from home, I can look back at my photos and see the beauty that I have captured over time seeing this tree grow petals, and eventually having to lose them.
I named my project Emergent Florescence, which is just a fancy way of saying developing flowers. I named it this because it sounded elegant just like the process that flowers take to develop themselves every year. With this project, I have realized further that nature is in control regardless of what happens during the rest of our time in this pandemic. We have started hearing about how staying at home has done well for the planet, carbon footprints have started decreasing, pollution is at an all-time low, and places that have been riddled with smog for years are now seeing clearer air. Nature is in demand. People come and go but nature is forever. Plants can rebuild themselves year after year. Its beauty is forever. I’m just glad I could take a tiny glimpse of it forever.
