Flower of Life 

Curator: Well, this is quite striking. My initial reaction is a sense of dramatic unfolding. What do you see? Editor: The textures intrigue me. It appears to be acrylic on canvas with noticeable impasto. The labor involved in building up those surfaces... what does this materiality suggest about the artist’s intentions? Curator: Good eye! Although untitled and undated, we've tentatively catalogued this work as "Flower of Life" made with acrylic paint using the impasto technique, very much aligned with modernism and with hints of landscape painting. I can see the artist working deliberately with this technique, particularly as she worked in an era where discussions around ‘high’ art versus craft were emerging strongly. Editor: Precisely. We can't divorce the imagery from the materials or the era in which this artwork would have circulated. Given how modernist aesthetics are often framed, it's almost rebellious that so much effort and material are committed to painting... a flower. How do you think it reflects the period in which the artist might have worked, the early modernist context? Curator: Well, even with a lack of specifics, this approach is key. It definitely evokes a time where artists like Georgia O’Keefe were blowing up the organic forms of nature, bringing them center stage and subverting tradition. These were times when the flower’s image was highly charged with themes relating to femininity. Editor: Certainly. It reflects a specific cultural lens. The outsized presentation almost screams to the audience, making a statement that nature is a force to be reckoned with. And looking back through time, how many viewers saw these flowers not just as botany, but symbols entangled with broader societal forces. Curator: Absolutely, this piece presents itself and the historical dialogue around it is as engaging as it is complex. What does its afterlife in the museum system entail for our own readings today? Editor: Food for thought, and a call to critically reassess what we consume when we consume art. Thanks. Curator: A pleasure. The process informs the viewing, doesn’t it?