A. Name: Siwei Chen
Name of Project: Life in Flowers
B. Concept:
For the photo in my diptych, the statue of Venus standing on the left, eyes blindfolded, with a bunch of flowers in a glass jar on the right, and a dark background made up of many roses. This photo can be interpreted that Venus representing the person who has lost her hands, broken, while the flowers in the glass jar are a representation of love, beauty, and nature, which is also a symbol of Venus in ancient Greek mythology.
Then, I wanted to make up for Venus’ arms with flowers, so I added different flowers to Venus’ arms in another piece. I tried to bring the elements of love and beauty into a state that had been broken, fractured, and suffered. These flowers represent hope and creation and beauty, overcoming the original brokenness to bring new beauty and harmony, showing through the glowing triangle around Venus.
In addition, the statues can represent as man-made works of art, while the flowers are natural elements, and this work can also be seen as an interpretation of a reflection on the relationship between man and nature.
I was inspired by the flowers and the statue of Venus placed in my home. I thought the two would work well together, so I set up the scene as shown in the picture, and then gradually formed the whole piece.
C. Process:
When I settled on the objects and subjects I wanted to photograph: flowers, and statues, I collected all the flowers at my home: many roses (fake), yellow flowers (I don’t know its name), red perennials, and some white and purple flowers. After collecting, I used a table lamp as the only light source, used a piece of cloth to cover the wall behind and the table underneath, and covered the entire background with roses. Then, I placed the Venus statue and the flowers in the glass jar. However, I thought this seemed a little monotonous, so I stuck a small piece of tape on the eyes of Venus.
When I did the second phase of the work, I originally wanted to put the flowers through the body of the statue to produce a poignant beauty. Nevertheless, I changed my mind. I added different flowers on the broken arms (this may be the most significant because it’s hard to adjust the size and length of flowers to make the whole thing look natural), and used various flowers as the dress (I actually took the top half of Venus and her bottom half separately in two photos, so I added many other elements in order to make the patchwork more natural). I also replaced the leg part under her dress with a wine bottle and combined it with a circle of glowing triangles around it, to add a modern touch. In this way, she looks like she has been reborn. Regarding the background, I first chose a picture with Venus’ face enlarged as the background, then reversed the color. I added a lot of flat flower elements to paste around the photo, and by adjusting the exposure, saturation, etc., I created a relief effect of it. Of course, I still wanted the viewer’s main focus to be on the Venus statue in the middle, so I adjusted the background to be very dark. It is the last step in my project.
The problem I met might be the glowing effect because I didn’t know how to do this. Then I found some YouTube videos and learned this skill.
D. Conclusion:
From the critique, I know my work may seem simple, and the two images look alike. If I have more time to improve, I will integrate more elements into my Photoshop work and choose a more bright, more vivid color to give a sense of contrast between the two pieces.
E. Image of Diptych
Contact sheet:
Diptych:
