For my final project, I have designed and curated a blog dedicated to the most diverse flower on planet Earth, the orchid. There are 25,000 species of orchid, and a lot of them, if not all, evoke a sexual energy when viewed up close. I have always thought orchids were beautiful, exotic and most of all, slightly out of reach. Their care is something for the obsessive, being high-maintenance mostly-tropical finicky flowers. I wanted to look more closely at the different varietals of this family of plants, and in my research started collecting so many beautiful photographs. Orchid breeders and keepers are not only obsessive with the care, but also the documentation of their plants. Thus a treasure-trove of fascinating, somewhat vaginal photos of flowers was revealed to me online.
I made this blog as an orchid lover for orchid lovers. It is pornography in the sense that I love these purely aesthetic, functionless flowers, but further it is porn due to the graphic macro documentation orchid lovers take of their seducers. By focussing on the image of the flower, this blog is a porn rag for the hardcore orchidaceae nerd, and hopefully a gateway drug to new-found orchid lovers. I have learned so much about the many, many species and have tried to tag each photo taxonomically, to better remember the names. So many beautiful names!
Robert Mapplethorpe was in many ways my avenue to approaching this as an art piece. His photographs of orchids (often pictured with nude men) revealed the sensual nature of these plants to me. I cannot recommend Mapplethorpe enough to those interested in photography.
I also visited the NW Orchid Exhibition and Sale this weekend and bought my first orchid, a Pahopedilum Maudiae 'Oriental Enchantment x Supersuk' ladyslipper orchid ready to bloom. I see a long future ahead of ever-growing obsessiveness with orchids. I wanted to put this info up online now so that you could look at the blog before class this week. I hope you enjoy it, I have enjoyed making it, and if you love orchids please follow the blog, it will be updated A LOT.
LV
KS
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