THE FOREST FLOOR

This past season, inspired by the paintings of Rachel Ruysch (1664, The Hague), I began including local moss and mushrooms to evoke the forest floor in the tradition of "sottobosco" (understory) paintings. In contrast to the lush flowers in the arrangements, the lower section of the photographs feature pests, bug-eaten leaves, fungus and decomposition. This push-and-pull between opposites - - living and dying, light and dark, blooming and composting, rising and falling, predator and prey - - forms the conceptual framework for this series.