UK-based artist Marisa Culatto’s ‘Flora’ series features a selection of plant life that has been composed, frozen and then photographed in the manner of a classic still life. There is a conscious act of staging but also an element of chance encounter to these works as the artist restricted herself to collecting the vegetation she came across on walks or in the day-to-day tasks of her daily life. As a consequence, each still life features plants that were found near one another and in a specific part of the world, such as the South East of England.
The conceptual intention addresses beauty, the loss of it, and the vain attempt to hold on to it. Through these works, Culatto tries to understand and accept the value of fading youth; Flora is her personal way of exploring and coming to terms with it. Ultimately, this body of work also speaks of the very act of photography: to freeze the moment. The series has recently been published as a book – Flora: A Frozen English Garden.
