Floral Arrangements

Text by Eleanor Zeichner, curator at UTS Gallery.

A newly commissioned series of digital still life collages by Maya Kilic, titled Floral Arrangements, depict floral tableaux in vivid colours and painterly textures. Composed of manipulated photographs taken by the artist and altered with digital illustration, these surrealist photomontages give the impression of specificity, while losing detail upon closer inspection. The edges of the vase and tablecloth wobble and merge with the flattened background Looking closer, scraps of litter, fragments of plastic and crumpled bank notes hover among the petals, traces of a digital realm that trouble the image.

In the tradition of 17th century Dutch still life painting, these works comment on the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures. This historical antecedent burnished the reputations of men made wealthy by European imperialism, their economic prosperity symbolised by masses of exotic flowers and fruits. In our era of ultra-convenience and single-use everything, where all desires can be fulfilled with same-day shipping and all knowledge is seemingly at our fingertips, Kilic comments that our personal abundances have untold global consequences. The digital breadcrumbs that prompt the targeted ads that follow us around the internet are mirrored by the physical detritus that poisons our planet. For this series, Kilic used ChatGPT to prompt imagery of the most common litter on London streets, collaging it into her floral arrangements in a display of the fleeting joys of the objects that will undoubtedly outlive us.