Flowers as Emotional Proxies
Floral forms have accompanied human emotion for centuries, not merely as decoration but as emotional stand-ins. We turn to flowers when words fail, when feelings are too complex or fragile to articulate directly. A bloom can carry grief, devotion, desire, or renewal without explanation. In my work, floral forms often act as emotional proxies, holding states that are difficult to name. They allow identity to appear indirectly, softened by petal and stem.
Projection and the Living Symbol
Projection is the psychological process that allows us to recognise ourselves in non-human forms. When we encounter a flower, we do not see it neutrally; we feel into it. Its openness, fragility, resilience, or abundance becomes a screen for inner states. Symbolic art activates this mechanism by refusing literal narrative. A floral form becomes a living symbol, receptive to whatever the viewer brings into the encounter.
Why Botanicals Feel Safer Than Faces
Faces can feel confrontational because they imply judgement, recognition, and social meaning. Flowers, by contrast, offer presence without demand. They do not look back in a human way, yet they feel responsive. This is why botanical symbolism often feels emotionally safer than figurative realism. In my compositions, florals frequently stand in for bodies or psyches, allowing viewers to recognise themselves without feeling exposed.
Identity Without Fixed Boundaries
Floral identity is fluid. A flower is always in transition, moving from bud to bloom to decay. This cyclical nature mirrors how identity is experienced internally, not as something fixed but as something continually unfolding. When I use botanical forms to suggest identity, I am interested in this state of becoming rather than arrival. The viewer may recognise themselves not as a defined figure, but as a process.
Symbolism and Emotional Translation
Flowers carry layers of cultural symbolism, yet they also operate on a personal, intuitive level. A particular shape or colour may evoke memories, sensations, or associations unique to each viewer. Symbolic art allows these meanings to coexist without hierarchy. In my work, florals translate emotion into form without locking it into a single interpretation. This openness is what makes identification possible across different inner worlds.
The Body Remembered Through Botanica
There is a bodily memory embedded in how we respond to flowers. Their textures, rhythms, and structures echo breath, skin, and internal movement. Petals unfold like gestures, stems bend like spines, and roots resemble nervous systems. When viewers see themselves in floral forms, they are often responding to this somatic familiarity. The recognition happens in the body before it reaches language.
Feminine Symbolism and Soft Power
Floral imagery has long been associated with femininity, not as decoration but as power expressed through receptivity and growth. In my work, flowers are not passive ornaments but active emotional agents. They hold space, radiate presence, and shape atmosphere. Seeing oneself in a floral form can be an act of reclaiming softness as strength, and vulnerability as intelligence.
Why Flowers Carry Identity Without Ego
Unlike portraits, flowers do not carry ego. They do not assert individuality in a competitive sense. This absence allows viewers to enter the image without resistance. Identity emerges quietly, without comparison or performance. Floral forms offer a way to experience selfhood that is expansive rather than defined, relational rather than isolated.
When the Self Becomes a Garden
Ultimately, seeing ourselves in floral forms reflects a desire to understand identity as something organic. The self becomes a landscape rather than a figure, shaped by seasons, conditions, and care. Symbolic botanicals invite this perspective gently. They remind us that identity does not need to be fixed or named to be real. Sometimes it is enough to recognise oneself in the act of blooming.
