Kate Bickmore

My most recent work looks at how Western culture has depicted, used and described flowers in relationship to women; and influenced our perceptions of femininity. In response, I started making my own immersive, bodily florascapes, where flowers are imbued with agency, physicality, sexuality and life. In my large-scale paintings, the plants are given a majestic and powerful status, depicted not as victims or specimens of the objective gaze, but instead as appealing agents that can build consciousness and create a sense of connectivity. With an emphasis on vibrant colours, varied texture and atmospheric light, my work is inspired by the Baroque and Rococo, Pre-Raphaelite painting, Dutch floral still life painting, the Hudson River School, 18th century botanical exploration, surrealism, cosmology and the work of Georgia O’Keeffe.

I am enamoured by the wonders of the natural world and want to emphasise human interaction with nature, as an intimate and phenomenological experience. Within my paintings, I embrace the sensational pleasures, wonder, and intimate enjoyment of plants as a powerful and elusive site of transformation. Instead of imposing a preconceived vision onto the flowers I encounter, the process of viewing, perceiving and depicting these plants is a subjective and evolving experience, focused on immersive feeling and sensory expansiveness. They are an entryway to the unknown, the sensual and the sacred: continually challenging categorisation and the traditional notions used to define them.