IN PIECES | LIMITED EDITION MOUNTED FINE ART PRINT

I created this wonderfully chaotic piece after making “Unconditional Love,” a still life depicting one tulip leaning on another, meant to symbolize my daughter and me. Nothing else is in the shot, just the two flowers together against the darkness of the world. I had been incredibly frustrated with getting the shot of “Unconditional Love.” I had planned to make one of my signature full-frame, lush still-life pieces, but nothing worked. I wanted the image to demonstrate the outpouring of love I feel for my child. To be full of blooms and beauty. It turned out very different than intended, so minimal, but somehow just right. It reflects us perfectly.

This image shows all the leftover tulips that did not make it into “Unconditional Love” —falling apart after being bent and twisted in my attempts to make them part of the work. They had all fallen away from the final product but still looked lovely, like swaths of pastel paint on the dark canvas of my set. I have felt like that lately, a tulip that’s been bent too many times. Life is pushing and pulling on me, crushing and weighing me down. I shot them this way, on the floor, in pieces. A reminder that even though I sometimes feel broken, I can always make something beautiful out of my feelings. Pick up the pieces and arrange them into something new.
Things that are broken can still be beautiful.