"Floriculture 1" by Lisa Creagh

Entitled “Floriculture 1,” this work by artist Lisa Creagh is a kaleidoscopic image comprised of hundreds of photos of individual flowers in various stages of bloom, isolated and reassembled into an otherworldly composition. The work is from her recent series “The Instant Garden” (2009-2020), which takes its name from the act of throwing a carpet down in desert sands to create an instant garden. Inspired by this desire to “manipulate and magic nature out of nothing,” Creagh conjures delicate gardens through careful manipulation of studio photography.

To assemble each composition, she draws from traditional handicrafts such as needlepoint or Dutch Flower Painting, arts that require painstaking attention to detail to create beautiful illusions of the real. Creating illusions of her own and exploring a “new mechanical uncanny,” Creagh presents familiar materials in unfamiliar contexts, reducing each botanical element to its innate qualities of pattern and color. The final Floriculture images are “the result of a slow, ponderous process of assembling ‘pieces’, rather than an instantaneous moment."

Based in the United Kingdom, artist Lisa Creagh specializes in photography and digital imagery. She holds a Master of Photography from Brighton University and is a cofounder of The Brighton Photo Fringe, a collaborative platform offering peer-support and professional opportunities to ‘lens-based artists.’ Her recent series "The Instant Garden" and "Holding Time" have received critical acclaim and have been exhibited widely throughout the UK and United States.

Framed. Lightjet C Print, Ed. 10 of 10.