detail of "Blossom", 2020, silk organza, petal powder, latex, seeds

Poppies are associated with dream states, sleep, passion, death and remembrance. The fragile flower grows quickly over tilled fields in the spring, hence its association with Demeter, the Greek goddess of fertility but also, with war; they are the first blooms to decorate killing fields. Thus, in English-speaking countries, red poppies hae been worn to honor veterans, since WWI.  In France the blue cornflower serves this purpose. In China poppies evoke colonialism and the Opium wars. The narcotic properties of poppies have been known since ancient times. In Persian poetry they are symbols of passion. In California, poppies are not red, but golden.

 

Bringing golden, orange and crimson  together, I join the poppy fields of my life in Europe, North Africa and North America to explore edges and overlaps of life and death, ecstasy and addiction. Marking canvas or dusting silk organza, I   recall the springy sensation of a joyfully walking  across a poppy field near Marrakesh or sprawling in an endless field of California gold. This project is inspired and informed by the violent history of dreams and destruction sown by this evanescent dream-flower, whose memory petals can nonetheless become a talismans  for the passions and processes of  life.