Perhaps as nature’s most delicate example of survival, the beauty of a flower is but a mask for its true purpose. Some flowers, like thistles, thrive in harsh environments, while others like orchids are temperamental and bloom rarely. Many have intentionally evolved to enchant other species to endure—such as the smallest of honeybees that sprinkle themselves in pollen, hummingbirds whose bills have evolved perfectly alongside honeysuckles, and even humans that have gone from admiring blossoms to cultivating them in grand gardens and greenhouses.

Far from superficial in their necessity, flowers have always held significance to humanity. Sometimes, like the snowdrops of Galanthus nivalis, they serve simply as harbingers to spring. Victorian England famously practiced a “language of flowers”, where different arrangements signified feelings of love, friendship, grief, and mourning. In Japan, the soft and short blooms of cherry blossoms have held centuries of cultural significance for representing Mono no Aware, the appreciation of impermanence.

Flowers, much like humanity, are fleeting in their nature. Similar to the symbiotic relationships of the natural world, flowers and artists have long shared a special bond. While flowers serve as a muse, artists act as preservationists, taking petals to paintbrush and extending their lifespan and legacy far beyond their own. Claude Monet’s most famous subject was his home garden in Giverny, France. Frida Kahlo captured her tumultuous emotions by blending botanicals with her surreal self-portraiture. The large-scale interpretations of Georgia O'Keeffe’s irises, lilies, and magnolias sought to evoke the emotional significance of her subjects for busy city dwellers who, quite literally, rarely stopped to smell the flowers.

Nothing in the natural world is meant to last, from the short-lived blooms of a blossom to even the most meticulously preserved paintings; all are subjects and inevitable victims to time. Floraculture serves to shift that age-old narrative, empowered by the advent of blockchain technology. This celebration of contemporary floral artistry invites artists from around the world to collaborate in an inventive arrangement where our botanical subjects can be eternally preserved and admired as intended.

Meet our Featured Artists:

Magnetismo is a visual artist with 4 years of experience in digital art. They enjoy representing the visual aesthetics found in everyday life and through social media, giving them a traditional touch through digital brushes.

Janie is a still photographer and visual artist inspired by the wild random freedom of the natural world, fleeting and ephemeral, like us. Making flowers in a dreamlike state with a luminous quality, envisioning a vibrant green world thriving amidst the evanescent nature of life.

Foreword by:

Tina Survilla Lindell is a sociolinguist, writer, and curator based out of New York City. Inspired by her Filipino-American upbringing abroad, much of her writing focuses on themes of identity, intimacy, and culture. As an avid urban birder and aspiring naturalist, she has been previously profiled and featured on the cover of Birding Magazine.