Fatimah’s Flowers
2021Galvanized steel, Novacolor acrylic paint, and diabond-mounted vinyl photographs
Public artwork as part of The Living School of Art
Fatimah’s Flowers is collaborative painting and photograph project that my 10-year-old neighbor Fatimah and I made during the summer of 2021. The work uses the metaphor of a garden to explore intergenerational experiences of female friendship and belonging.
During the 5 years we lived in the same apartment complex, Fatimah and I created multiple collaborative artworks that celebrated our deep love of flowers. As our work grew over time, our conversations turned toward friendship—how we each deal with conflict and rejection, how to build strong friendships, and what it means to be a good friend. Together, we found a language through flowers to discuss these experiences.
To create this artwork, Fatimah and I took walks in and around the apartment complex and photographed flowers that were in bloom. We then used those photographs as reference images for paintings. The work now exists as a permanent, public artwork on the fence surrounding the community garden in the apartment complex.
During the 5 years we lived in the same apartment complex, Fatimah and I created multiple collaborative artworks that celebrated our deep love of flowers. As our work grew over time, our conversations turned toward friendship—how we each deal with conflict and rejection, how to build strong friendships, and what it means to be a good friend. Together, we found a language through flowers to discuss these experiences.
To create this artwork, Fatimah and I took walks in and around the apartment complex and photographed flowers that were in bloom. We then used those photographs as reference images for paintings. The work now exists as a permanent, public artwork on the fence surrounding the community garden in the apartment complex.
