Fleurs du Mal-Lilies

I had a studio overlooking Columbia Road flower market in East London. When the market ended the traders abandoned their unsold flowers. Lying in the gutter in long flat delivery boxes, this poignant scene suggested the images I went on to make.

My concerns were consciously technical and formal. I wished to integrate print with painting and represent flowers as strong and robust forms , however I was aware that the symbolism of flower imagery could not be overlooked.

The decision to connect them with Baudelaire’s poem cycle seemed apt.