Encaustic

Sensations Imprimées, 2017 by Anna Achilleos Stäubli

FLORA IM QUADRAT

By Katharina Bütikofer
Artist, art educator and former professor for visual arts at the University of Bern and the Bern School of Arts.

The rose merely blossoms
and never asks why:
heedless of her beauty,
careless of every eye.
Angelus Silesius, 1624–1670

The flower motif has been a staple in art and culture of all peoples and periods, in ever new and boundless variations. Flowers and flower images are not only ornaments and decorations, but symbols of something behind it. Just like icons, they are the visible manifestations of invisible things, their significance ranging from the festive bridal wreath to the last rose
on the grave. Resilience and frugality go hand in hand with vulnerability and lavish blossoming. When flowers wilt, we are bitterly reminded of the transience of things, when they bloom, they remind us of Persephone, who is only allowed to leave wintry Hades during the period of
vegetation.

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