Queer Floriography was born out of my love for painting, flowers, and the diverse LGBTIQIA+ community in Naarm/Melbourne.
The idea, conceived in 2021 during one of Melbourne’s lockdowns, was to chat to the models whilst painting their portrait and to come up with a flower that captured their personalities. The flower would then be incorporated into the portrait.
Easier said than done!
Sometimes, I could not think of a flower that represented the models. In one case it took months!
In addition, during the sittings, it was found that some of the models had a flower that had a significant meaning to them - either personally or within their circle of family or friends. In these instances, I researched the flower and its meaning/s as defined in the “Victorian Floriography Code”. Sometimes, I didn’t think that their suggested flower represented them; it may have had some significance to them, but I didn’t believe that it was representative of how I interpreted their personality. In other cases, I felt that their chosen flower was perfect and was keen to incorporate it into their portrait.
The Victorian Floriography Code is at times amusing and at other times quite blunt. I opted to focus on the flower’s positive personality traits, rather than negative ones.