group show NEST / Den Haag ,10 September 2021
Propaganda Flowers is a series of drawings that are accompanied by stories from interviews with people from different countries on the connection between politics and flowers. For example, the Kimilsungia violet orchid was named after Kim Il-Sung, former leader of North Korea, and tells a narrative about the remembrances of socialism. The Vampire Tulip asks questions about human hypocrisy, distracted from the water crisis in Africa, whereas the Welwitschia flower is accompanied by the text about the flower as a symbol for democracy. Each drawing touches upon the ethics of politics, combining the sweet symbolism of flowers with deep geopolitical concerns.
For the exhibition at Nest in The Hague, Can you be a revolutionary and still like flowers?, a new chapter of the Propaganda Flowers series was created. The works was done in the context of Russia , with supportive conversations with the eco -activist Maria Tinika who created a Saving Trees society in St -Petersburg.
photo documentation of the Installation : Charlott Markus
Reviews:
Den Haag Centraal: https://www.nestruimte.nl/bloemen-als-symbolen-van-verzet/
Groene Amsterdammer: https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-laatste-sanseveria and https://www.groene.nl/artikel/dansende-bloemen