“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” — Zen Shin, Buddhist proverb
Elegy in Red and Dust, Pebble Beach, CA, 2012
Juried Exhibition, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, 2013
The amaryllis once stood proud—velvet trumpets raised to a silent sun, their crimson mouths open wide to song. But now, their song is quieter. It is a whispered requiem, a fading lullaby carried by the wind through time’s garden.
This image tells the story of Isadora, a reclusive perfumer who lived on the edge of a forgotten village. She had once bottled joy, lust, sorrow—distilled the human condition into fragrances sold in Parisian ateliers. But she had vanished, choosing exile after losing the one she loved in a war that demanded too much from the living.
Each spring, Isadora planted a single amaryllis bulb in a clay urn. She never pruned the blooms. She let them age in full view, unashamed. Over time, they became more than flowers; they were memory-keepers. And every petal that curled, every vein that browned, was a reminder: beauty need not be eternal to be holy.
The stylized image you see above captures the final breath of one such bloom. Its wilting petals mimic the gestures of dancers who refuse to leave the stage. Even in decline, their performance is haunting. The color—still blood-rich in places—clings to form like a last word unsaid. And in the background, that olive spear of green stands tall, a sentinel of what remains.
There is grace here, but it is not easy grace. It is the grace of having survived. The image reflects not only the life of the flower but the soul of the artist, one who does not fear the unraveling, who does not hide from mortality, but instead translates it into lyric light and texture.
This image is not a eulogy. It is a hymn. One whispered in the ancient language of decay and persistence.
How the Image Evokes Emotion
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Subject: The amaryllis, wilted yet commanding, speaks of time, loss, and perseverance. It draws the viewer into a quiet confrontation with aging, not as an ending but as a transformation.
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Style: A muted palette, aged textures, and cinematic lighting elevate the image into an almost painterly relic, like something exhumed from a sacred archive. It feels like memory incarnate.
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Composition: The arrangement of petal, pod, and stalk mimics figures in dialogue. There's tension and tenderness in their interaction. The dance between life and death is staged with reverence, not melodrama.
Artist Statement
In this work, I explore the bittersweet terrain where beauty begins to surrender to time. I am drawn to subjects that are often overlooked—those in-between moments where decline gives birth to new forms of grace. This image of an aging amaryllis is both a personal meditation and an invitation: to embrace impermanence not with despair but with reverence.
I do not aim to freeze time; I aim to let it breathe. I create out of necessity because for me, it is like breathing. In these petals, I see parts of myself. In their unraveling, I find quiet truths.