The story of botanical photography is still being written. From Anna Atkins’ 19th century algae cyanotypes and Karl Blossfeldt’s close-ups of plants, to the blown-up still lifes of Ori Gersht and politically charged bouquets by Taryn Simon, artists have long used floral motifs as a way to discuss something more. Cig Harvey (b. 1973), a British-born artist who now lives in Maine, USA, follows in this tradition. In her work, flowers are not just decorations, but a powerful metaphor for human resilience. Plants have long influenced Harvey’s vision, from the 2015 series Gardening at Night, which was “an exploration of home, family, nature and time,” to her most recent book Emerald Drifters (Monacelli, 2025). The latter is a lush collection of the artist’s signature subjects – including flora and domestic interiors (often accentuated by bright bouquets), as well as the figure wandering in the landscape. It’s a truly magical oeuvre.
Now, Harvey’s interest in the floral motif is at the heart of a new show from WILLAS Contemporary at IVAR – The Matchstick Palace in Stockholm. Through photographs, neon, text and moving-image, this exhibition – Harvey’s first in Sweden – demonstrates how flowers can convey love, fear, hope, life and death. At the heart of the show is the titular film Eat Flowers, directed by River Finlay and produced by Harvey, which follows the artist as she creates daily pictures for her late friend Mary, undergoing treatment for a rare leukaemia. It’s an extremely emotive and meaningful act, and each image becomes a gesture of care – a way of sending colour and the outdoors into an otherwise closed off hospital room. The work is a testament to friendship, and “the ability of art to sustain connection where words fall short.”
The piece has real impact, and has been met with critical claim. Brandei Estes, Former Head of Photographs at Sotheby’s, for example, describes the film as: “A stunning visual love letter to the therapeutic power of colour through flowers … encouraging us to live and feel and not take a moment for granted.” The International Documentary Association, meanwhile, says: “As we reckon with mass trauma and loss across our country and the world, and continue to face so many – at times terrifying – unknowns, Eat Flowers shows us the way. Through images of beauty, and love letters to the world and the ones we love, Cig and Mary find a way through an unspeakable tragedy and loss. One image and message at a time.”
Nature takes centre stage in the photographs on display at IVAR. An apple tree is captured in the fading light of day. Azaleas press against panes of glass. Elsewhere, anonymous figures move through the land, standing knee-deep in rivers or walking through irises. Others clutch clematis and dahlia blooms. Petals can be seen spilling into the built environment, erupting from a tiled bathtub, blanketing roads, appearing as shadows in car windscreens or emerging from inside a greenhouse. As luminous blue chive blossoms burst across the frame, and green foliage smothers the picture plane, it might feel that you cannot move for plant life. Yet Harvey’s command of colour, light and detail shines through, leading you only to want more.
Harvey’s approach has garnered significant recognition: her photographs and books are in the permanent collections of many galleries across the world, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and George Eastman Museum. Moreover, some of the works on view in Eat Flowers were part of the exhibition In Bloom, which toured Fotografiska’s Stockholm, New York and Tallinn locations. Wherever it is showcased – on museum walls or the printed page – Harvey’s work reminds us to embrace the present moment. “In the time it took to write this sentence somebody died, somebody was born, a language disappeared, a mass shooting occurred, a forest burn begun, an insect crushed, an idea inched forward,” she says. “My pictures are an urgent call to live. A primal roar. Be here, now. Experience this. Feel this. My pictures are of flowers, but they are not about flowers; they are about living and dying.”
Eat Flowers is at IVAR – The Matchstick Palace, Stockholm, until 29 August.
Words: Eleanor Sutherland
Image Credits:
1. Skyline © Cig Harvey
2. Chive Blossoms © Cig Harvey
3. Emerald Coat with Dahlia Petal © Cig Harvey
4. Emily In The River © Cig Harvey
5. The Meuse (Deer) © Cig Harvey
6. Gold Road © Cig Harvey
