Flower Girl probes the perception of innocence, and the transition from childhood to womanhood, during a time of confusing norms and expectations. The video depicts, on separate screens, a girl at play in a pictorial setting, and an adult female systematically constructing a silk flower. Their relationship is ambiguous, and the piece beckons the question: can the girl hold on to her identity, cultivate her aspirations, or is she predestined to be a construct of her environs? And what of the older woman? Is she the architect, a symbol of cultural intentions, or an obedient pawn?

The project was activated by a convergence of multiple events: my daughter’s 13th birthday; her distress over not being a flower girl in a family wedding; the participation of women in the Arab Spring, and their likely diminished role under rising conservative movements; the right wing “war on women” movement in the US; and the National Institute of Mental Health’s new findings on “Nature vs. Nurture”.

I had hoped my daughter would be entering her womanhood in a more encouraging time. I wonder while she climbs trees, collects snakes, poses seductively, and looks at boys differently, just how much has changed since I was climbing trees. Today and when I was young, every girl desires to be a flower girl, way more than a dressed-up princess. I remember my dress, how beautifully it moved when I twirled, and how carefully I dropped each rose petal. I have no idea who was getting married, and I remember nothing after that prodigious walk down the aisle. Young girls have played this role since ancient Greece, when little maidens scattered herbs and grains to summon fertility. The flower girl then as now is the symbol of innocence, purity, and future womanhood – a bride in training.

A key component of the piece resides with the flower props. They appear throughout the video and in a separate series of digital photographs. Each flower is hand painted and was chosen for its floriographic name, based on the Victorian Era practice of communicating through flowers. Flowers have been a symbol for femininity and womanhood since ancient times, but the Victorians created an elaborate code and system for non-verbal communication. The nuances of the language are mostly forgotten, but the implications for women still linger – the perfect woman must still be pure (Lotus) of body, innocent (Daisy) in spirit, and a wildcat (Poppy) in bed.