Beyond Beauty: the Feminized Forms of Flowers

Writing & Paintings | Julia Hess

These paintings express the veiled and mysterious aspects of femininity, depicting botany, which has been feminized throughout cultural history, as an intricate, sentient character. Embodying individual personalities, each plant is a figment of my imagination, with the exception of the lone tiger lily. The plants create a complex and charged energy through their relationships with one another. 

Strange Botany, 24x36", oil on canvas

Gust depicts a brooding, stormy atmosphere that challenges the playful flower motif. While the poppies are painted romantically, they also struggle against the storm, swaying and melting at the edges as they resist upheaval. While Strange Botany is lighter in atmosphere, teardrop-shaped pods droop with their own weight, fragile, translucent flowers shelter within themselves, and a spiky yellow flower reaches upward menacingly. 

These paintings arose organically, with little to no planning. I began by dripping paint thinner over a wet base layer of paint using a ketchup bottle to achieve unexpected patterns and atmosphere. I then responded accordingly, capturing intuitive, oftentimes emotional responses to each new element. The flowers converse, compete, and intertwine with each other delicately. 

Gust, 24x36", oil on canvas

Growing up in an earth home, I spent most of my childhood in a field dappled with wildflowers that engulfed half of my house, my mom’s garden perched on the roof. My mom is a botanist, and she birthed my fascination with the beautiful Latin names and gossamer petals of flowers. These paintings are partially an homage to my mom and the love and care that she nurtures in plants and in all aspects of her life. 

While so many facets of femininity are beautiful and essential, sinister undercurrents of the feminine experience are also unavoidable. In both of these works, I wanted to invite viewers to gaze beyond the beauty and interrogate the complexities of these sentient flowers, who simultaneously flourish and suffer.