A new language for grief - Research into Floriography & Textiles
For this ongoing project, I explore how floriography—the symbolic language of flowers—can express feelings of grief and loss, and how I can visually translate this language into a textile artwork. I investigate which flowers are suitable and what meaning they hold for me. I experiment with natural printing and dyeing techniques on textiles, using specific flowers that are meaningful to me. The goal is to create a large textile piece in collaboration with others, serving as a collective space for mourning. This process combines personal experiences of grief with a broader quest for expression and community building.
In a next step, I aim to involve participants by inviting them to select flowers that resonate with their own feelings of loss, aiming to compile this all together in an encyclopedia. These flowers will then be transferred, resulting in a shared expression of mourning. The final piece will be a work where individual stories converge in a visual and tangible dialogue.
With this project, I aim not only to explore my own processes of mourning but also to offer others the opportunity to share their feelings of loss through a language that connects art, nature, and community. This research is conducted in collaboration with Weder, an ecological flower farm in Mariakerke, Ghent.
Bedroom stories
Analog photographs of my bed captured just before going to sleep. An ongoing project that will extend over a longer period of time. At its core, this work explores the concept of language, and how it can sometimes be a barrier. The images become a form of intimate communication, expressing more than words alone can convey. The bedroom serves as a personal sanctuary, an authentic reflection of identity, more than any other space at home. Over the course of a year, these photographs are being archived, opening up the possibilities of what might emerge from this process.
