My work focuses on the delicate and fleeting nature of our world by preserving floral elements in ice and photographing them. The act of freezing a flower is paradoxically both preservative and destructive. By suspending a flower in water ice, I take it out of time. It is changed, but its beauty is saved. It will not wilt and it will not drop petals, however it is still destroyed. The still living cells are pierced by ice crystals and killed. Its fragrance is drowned and sealed away. Eventually even its color will inevitably fade and leach into the water when the thawing process begins. Each flower’s death is only delayed. By photographing these moments I attempt to abstract and preserve them further. My work examines our futile instinct to hold on to the ephemeral both in ourselves and in the world around us. I’m asking the viewer to consider how we interact with the natural world both individually and as a whole. Could these drivers of our own behavior be leading us to blindly exploit and destroy the natural beauty of the world around and within us.

During college, my professor challenged me to push the boundaries of my floral photography. After many critiques and frustration, I impulsively threw some flowers in the freezer and forgot about them. When I found them later, I saw how beautiful they looked covered in frost and decided to photograph them. This led me to further develop my technique of freezing flowers in various forms, including blocks of ice and using whatever I had on hand, like cookie sheets and ice cube trays.

I grow most of the flowers in my garden in Brooklyn, making my work very personal and seasonal. Each flower I choose and photograph comes from my own garden, adding a layer of intimacy to the process. My work involves a lot of experimentation and play, with a bit of chance, because you never know how the flowers and water will freeze together. This unpredictability is a key part of my creative process, resulting in unique and captivating images each time.

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