Artist Statement
This thesis was inspired by my personal experience with the grief process and experience with loss. I found myself in the depths of grief for the first time in my life in 2022 when my grandfather passed away, which was followed less than a year later by my dog unexpectedly passing after being hit by a car. I was devastated by these losses. As I mourned, I struggled to find comfort and healing, but one element kept emerging within my space: the element of power. I began to notice people sending my grandmother flowers, her house became filled with purple flowers sent by friends and loved ones. When my dog passed away less than a year later, I received a purple orchid and a card. The emergence of flowers became a compass to guide my grief. Through their gentle nature, flowers have been a reminder of light when things in life are dark due to loss.
This body of work focused on the use of flowers as a therapeutic balm to aid the grief process and as a metaphor for the life-transformative life cycle. In all, more than 50 oral arrangements were created with a variety of different flowers, grasses, and leaf materials. The flowers were placed in unique vases, jars, and containers made of clay, glass, stone, metal, and wood. The flowers naturally dried and were transformed into paper pulp mixed with recycled paper products, exemplifying the sustainability of nature, life cycle, grief, and memory. The flower pulp was turned into more than 70 sheets of handmade paper. The paper was then used for note making and letter writing for the bereaved and folded into symbolic forms.
Thesis Abstract
This thesis explores the use of flowers and oral arrangements within grief, transformation, and paths toward healing. Grief is experienced by feelings of distress and mental anguish that one may incur after a loss, death, or absence of someone or something in one’s life. Flowers hold cultural significance and individual symbolism across the world and have for generations. Integrating the use of flowers within the grief process may open new perspectives, bring sensory grounding, and allow for metaphorical ways of thinking. The method for this research involved arranging flowers, witnessing the wilting and drying process, and repurposing the flowers into a new art form, which resulted in more than 70 sheets of flower pulp paper that was then written upon to reflect memories, thoughts, and emotions within the cycle of grief. The process informed a metaphor for the life cycle, a grief journey, and the notion that everything has its purpose. The results and their implications within art therapy and other helping professions are discussed.