"Still Life"

As this project was for a screen printing class, the printing process needed to be the center of my questioning. And so, I turned toward repetition and copy, which were the necessities that birthed printing and its subsequent methods. Moreover, I realized that books and prints were often used to carry information, and because of their long lifespans, the mediums often outlived their subjects. I then turned my attention toward ecological problems and nature’s fragility.

​

I chose the yellow hibiscus, or the brackenridge hibiscus, as my main subject, an endemic and critically endangered flower that blooms once a year and whose bloom only lasts a few days. After drawing and screen printing it on vellum paper, I then folded it into an origami flower. The transparency of the paper allowed both layers of the print to show through to the outside. A botanical drawing of the hibiscus, its flower, buds and seed, was also screen printed onto heavier vellum to be used as the origami vase. This was printed and planned so that each side of the vase featured a copy of this botanical model of the flower.

​

The name of this piece refers to both the type of paintings of the same name, but also the dying state of nature and how we keep glorifying its briefs moments of beauty instead of saving it. The fact that the print, which should’ve been the focus of the work, is instead hidden inside the folds of the flowers, added the questioning of what we expect versus what we see, and how we evaluate the value of things. It was also fitting that the paper of the flowers degraded throughout the week of the exposition, making the flowers seemingly wilt.

​

​