Photography Exhibition Inspired by Game of Thrones Quote
So fantastical they almost whisper ‘winter is coming’
The latest exhibition by Auckland photographer Maegan McDowell was inspired by a quote from Game of Thrones.
‘What is dead may never die’ is a common saying amoungst those that worship deity ‘The Drowned God’ on the popular show,
and it resonated so much with Maegan she used it to create a series of fine art prints named The Rebirth of Flowers.
After more than 10 years dedicated to beauty, fashion and travel campaigns, Maegan decided to study floristry. “I would
bring home leftover flowers deemed no longer vase-worthy, decomposed enough to no longer be desirable,” she says. “But I
saw great beauty in their movement into the next stage of being.”
Even though gravity altered their physical state, colours had stayed true or desaturated, textures transitioned from
soft and smooth to brittle and crisp – Maegan saw each flower had actually
metamorphosed into a new, immortal form.
With this concept in mind she experimented with taking photographs of aging roses, the symbols of love, romance, beauty
and perfection. The visual style of the series takes cues from Dutch Masters of the Renaissance — painters renowned for
creating art that evoked emotion and often explored the brevity of life.
Centre-focused shooting style and processing gives these limited-edition fine art prints a similar mood to the fine
detail oil paintings of that era, losing their contours and intensity as they fade into dark backgrounds.
Yet despite their somewhat funereal origins the series surprisingly far from sombre: the flowers proudly portray their
eternal character with a rich colour palette and unique physical composition in a surreal visual style.
And through the journey of their creation, Maegan too has undergone a kind of rebirth. “Through the flowers I have found
a kind of empowerment,” she says. “I gave myself space for rediscovery, allowing me to create emphatic works of art full
of emotions like strong passion, great love and passing hurt.”
See The Rebirth of Flowers on view at 19 Khyber Pass Road, Mount Eden from October 29
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