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Rebirth, light, shadow and transformation through the language of flowers, myth and symbolism
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Jess McAran is a still life botanical photographer, writer and creative from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is currently turning her body of work, Flowers From Your Shadow, into an oracle deck funded exclusively on Kickstarter. Most recently, she was featured in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s December 2024 issue and placed in the top 25 for their Emerging Artist Category in the 7th annual Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Digital Art Award. Her floral arrangements, created and photographed at night, intuitively offer insight in retrospect on the human condition in shadow, light and the subject of seeking the oneness of connections. Using the language of floriography, symbolism, folklore, and myth, she often expresses themes of rebirth, growth and transformation through the flowers chosen in her subject matter. Her work explores the liminal spaces found in the process of embracing the light and transmuting darkness during shadow work. Inspiration for her fine art photography is found everywhere.
https://www.instagram.com/dreaming.of.flora/
https://dreamingofflora.com/
I started Dreaming of Flora, an Instagram gallery in August of 2022. I learned I needed to have a hysterectomy. I felt lost, scared, alone, ashamed. Flowers, writing, poetry and photography became a connection and a way to find unity with myself, connection to others and figurative light for the anxiety and depression that followed prognosis.
During this time, I lost someone close to me and through grief, survivor guilt, community inspiration, my practices evolved to include human and animal skulls/bones. While the animal skulls are mostly real, the human ones are synthetic facsimiles that in some ways are a perfect allegory for the human condition. The flowers, chosen intuitively, often offer lessons on the subjects of transformation, rebirth, growth, and love.
I find inspiration everywhere and credit magazines like Beautiful Bizarre, community art markets and art shows as modern day inspiration that have helped me discover old and new art. I love the dark modern art community and find inspiration from Dutch 17th century still life, memento mori and vanitas.
Beautiful Bizarre December 2024 issue (Our Community)
Beautiful Bizarre top 25 art prize placement for emerging art
SuboArt Magazine September 2023
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