Hortus

The Hortus project is an open investigation into the nature of seemingly common objects through ‘Floriography’, urban gardens, and the history of female rights. The Hortus was inspired by urban gardens in West Amsterdam and created with its plants. The ‘Hortus’ is referring to the multifaceted roles of flowers discovered with Floriography, cryptological communication through the use or arrangement of flowers.

Hortus departs from the 19th-century Victorian sentimental book “Language of Flowers” by Kate Greenway, in which botanical notes, illustrations and the vocabulary of flowers became ways of interpreting symbolism and creating a covert means of communication in both courtship and broader life.

The book contains forty-one still-life, the behind-the-scenes studio shoots, and visual research documentation.