Flowers for teachers getting their shots. Flowers for dads unveiling awkward kitchen dance moves. More flowers for nurses. Flowers for the loneliest person you know.
In this SFMoMA video, California-based artist Tucker Nichols discusses Flowers For Sick People, his pandemic-era “art and health” project of original flower paintings, some created by request for free. The narration is accompanied by an ASL interpreter. Nichols writes:
Sickness can be a very isolating experience for everyone involved. Like many people, I’ve lived with illness for years. But there’s something about flowers—even if they are garish or they make you sneeze or they are hardly noticed—that can occasionally poke a tiny hole in the wall of isolation that separates sick people from their loved ones. Flowers for Sick People is my own way of looking at illness while trying to understand how humans struggle to connect in difficult times.
Flowers for distracted skygazers. Flowers for all doctors in the thick of it. Flowers for all the kids who shouldn’t have to worry about the whole world just yet.
Who would you send flowers to? What would your painted flowers look like? Similar to The 100 Day Project, the repetition of Nichols’ art project focuses on exploration, reinvention, and practice. It’s a simple yet meaningful art activity for any age (though note that a few painting titles include mature language).
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Watch this next: The relationship between flowers and humans: Story of Flowers 2.
Plus: The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry, animated and Motoi Yamamoto’s intricate, temporary salt installations.
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