Joseph Bellows Gallery is pleased to present an online exhibiton of Tine Poppe's highly celebrated series, Gilded Lilies. Although mystifyingly beautiful, these lush, supernatural flower arrangements also pose important environmental and climate concerns. The artist's cut flowers were shot against a background of images from vulnerable areas of the world. When giving these magnificent flowers and plants close attention, they become a mysterious, dreamlike universe in themselves and a reminder of the incredible beauty of nature that we are at serious risk of losing.
Today, most of the cut flowers we buy have been transported by plane and truck from industrial-scale, digitally-run greenhouses around the world. Colombia, Ecuador, and equatorial East Africa are the world's largest producers of cut flowers. These greenhouses contribute to high water use and chemical runoff. In addition to pollutants and water use, flowers can generate significant carbon emissions due to refrigeration and long-haul transportation. Stems may be transported up to 6000 miles in refrigerated airplane holds. When grown in cooler climates, flowers often require heated greenhouses, which generate high CO2 emissions due to their high electricity consumption.
The images remind us of both the beauty of their subject and how flowers are imbued with specific, symbolic meaning.
Tine Poppe is an artist living and working in Oslo, Norway. Her practice focuses on bringing attention to social, political, existential, and environmental issues through photography. In doing so, her work has been published and exhibited in prominent publications, photography magazines, and exhibitions worldwide. Her works have been purchased by both governmental and corporate art collections in Norway and abroad. The Sony World Photography Awards have recognized Poppe's work, as have the IPA International Photography Awards, PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, LensCulture Emerging Talents Awards, and LensCulture Street Photography Awards, among others. Her work is featured in the books “The Best of LensCulture Vol. 1 and Vol. 2”. She was recently awarded the prestigious Norwegian award, Fotografiprisen.