Decibel Bouquet (dB) presents large format, black and white portraits juxtaposed against an intensely detailed and colourful floral scene, highlighting the beauty in unconventional forms. Wallpaper constructed of desecrated bouquets is created through a chaotic process of creating floral arrangements between plexiglass, running them through a printmaking press, and then using a flatbed scanner to capture the destruction in all its detail. Each separate bouquet is examined, printed, and blown up until I find the individual abstractions to extract and compile together into a symphony. Each moment comes together in the wallpaper design to unite the sacrifice of each bouquet. The flowers and stems are warped, their pigments spill across the frame, and what once was recognizable becomes abstract. These scenes, reminiscent of a blooming hurricane or a Cy Twombly painting, become backdrops that demand to be recognized as beautiful even through their destruction. The portraits themselves battle the idea of our own constructions of beauty as each portrait addresses an expectation of womanhood. Menstruation, “perfect” hair, the wage gap, violence, maternity, and body image; these portraits confront these topics, and more, without apology. Focusing on a diverse range of models allows for a more holistic view on womanhood, highlighting different experiences and in placing them all against the floral backdrop, the underlying unity between all women pulls through. As they look into the lens of the view camera, there is a demand to be seen entirely and honestly, slightly larger than life, and verging on disturbing. A certain level intimacy is evident in the close-mouthed expression of the women who are offering themselves up to be judged.
            In layering black and white, large format prints along with colour digital scans that make up the wallpaper; I bring two very separate ideas together and unite them. Here I show an old and coveted photographic process with a new experimental one, in agreement with one another. These women are still beautiful, even though they highlight what we think to be flawed, as the flowers do in their destroyed state. And here exists harmony. The flowers are not separate from the colourless women; in fact, they become part of them. The corporeal nature of the pressed flowers seems to be coming out from inside the women, calling attention in every direction. The wild, untamable beauty of visceral blood red and organ pink in the flora are splayed across the image in a violent call to be heard and seen. These women are silent and yet speaking so loudly, in protest together: a decibel bouquet.