Primary Floriography Data
Primary Floriography Data
Through research-creation I explore the representation of symbology, adornment, and decoration as part of courtship, female gender performance, and self-marketing, within the context of new media, and craft media.
I seek to draw parallels between contemporary visual symbolic online communication tactics, and historical signs and signifiers related to courting rituals and rites of passage rooted in floriography: The Language of Flowers. This unspoken cytological communication, through the use or arrangement of flowers, was at the height of its popularity in Western culture in the 19th Century. Gifts of specific floral arrangements and plants were used to send coded messages to recipients, allowing the sender to express feelings which could not be spoken aloud in 19th century society.
In the 21st Century, wide-spread use of online dating apps and websites has fostered a new set of contemporary dating trends and visual symbology. Online profile descriptions, Emojis, and sexting, are common visual tactics that communicate desire, attraction, and romantic intention. The language of flowers and new media culminate in Primary Data – The language of the Red, Yellow, & Blue Rose, a mixed media piece that features digital roses created out of LEDs, arranged in arrays based on traditional cross-stich floral patterns. In floriography the yellow rose signifies jealously and infidelity, the red rose signifies true romantic love, while the blue rose signifies all that is unattainable. The words featured in this artwork are directly taken from Plenty of Fish Profiles (POF) the popular dating website and are placed in relation to the signified LED flowers.
The cytological encased love note series continue to draw these parallel. I have collected five contemporary unsaid messages intended for romantic or former romantic partners. Which I then reinterpreted into floral poesies, using an 1800’s floriography dictionary.
Through my work I strive to present the following questions:
Has visual symbolism always been an important communication technology in regard to courting rites and rituals? If so, what holds us to these traditional forays, some which are interrelated to the feminine landscape and feminine adornment? Why do we still feel so drawn to traditional rites of courtship, when there are so many different kinds of relationships and ways of communicating intent and desire in contemporary society?
Through research-creation I explore the representation of symbology, adornment, and decoration as part of courtship, female gender performance, and self-marketing, within the context of new media, and craft media.
I seek to draw parallels between contemporary visual symbolic online communication tactics, and historical signs and signifiers related to courting rituals and rites of passage rooted in floriography: The Language of Flowers. This unspoken cytological communication, through the use or arrangement of flowers, was at the height of its popularity in Western culture in the 19th Century. Gifts of specific floral arrangements and plants were used to send coded messages to recipients, allowing the sender to express feelings which could not be spoken aloud in 19th century society.
In the 21st Century, wide-spread use of online dating apps and websites has fostered a new set of contemporary dating trends and visual symbology. Online profile descriptions, Emojis, and sexting, are common visual tactics that communicate desire, attraction, and romantic intention. The language of flowers and new media culminate in Primary Data – The language of the Red, Yellow, & Blue Rose, a mixed media piece that features digital roses created out of LEDs, arranged in arrays based on traditional cross-stich floral patterns. In floriography the yellow rose signifies jealously and infidelity, the red rose signifies true romantic love, while the blue rose signifies all that is unattainable. The words featured in this artwork are directly taken from Plenty of Fish Profiles (POF) the popular dating website and are placed in relation to the signified LED flowers.
The cytological encased love note series continue to draw these parallel. I have collected five contemporary unsaid messages intended for romantic or former romantic partners. Which I then reinterpreted into floral poesies, using an 1800’s floriography dictionary.
Through my work I strive to present the following questions:
Has visual symbolism always been an important communication technology in regard to courting rites and rituals? If so, what holds us to these traditional forays, some which are interrelated to the feminine landscape and feminine adornment? Why do we still feel so drawn to traditional rites of courtship, when there are so many different kinds of relationships and ways of communicating intent and desire in contemporary society?