Portia Munsoneti began creating flower images in 2002 after the death of a close person left her pondering the fleeting lives of flowers and people.
"While walking in my garden images of flower arrays came to me. I imagined flower mandalas that were reminiscent of suzanies from Uzbekistan and the vivid garlands of fresh blossoms I had seen used as religious offerings in Thailand. Using the mandala, the circular form that in Eastern religions represents the universe, I meticulously arrange flowers from the garden into combinations of color and form that exaggerate the vibrancy of both. Sometimes I slice into buds and append blossoms onto one another. As with all my work, a closer look at the subject reveals hidden secrets – in this case, the flowers’ hairy, sticky, or poisonous parts; pollen; seeds; and the occasional insect.
To make these mandala images, I use the scanner like a large-format camera. I lay flowers directly onto it,
allowing pollen and other flower stuff to fall onto the glass
and become part of the image. When the high-resolution scans are
enlarged, amazing details and natural structures emerge. Every flower
mandala is unique to a moment in time, represents what is in bloom on
the day I made it."I enjoy how Munsoneti includes animals in some of her pieces as I was looking for how other artists, include and represent death in their work.
