In Lieu of Flowers by Laurie Peek

Issue 162

My ongoing In Lieu of Flowers series of multi-layered photographs of floral elements is dedicated to my son Jackson Turner (1983-2020) and other individuals I’ve known (family friends, teachers, even my own mother) whose funerals I could not attend, as well as to the families who’ve lost a child too early. More broadly, this work is for anyone who’s suffered the loss of a loved one, especially in these covid times.

After my son’s death, I took a year off from my photography to give myself time to grieve. When the year ended, I was violently impelled to start creating this work which has poured out of me over the past year. I often wonder if I am channeling my son’s creativity into the work.

With this memorializing project— presenting the flowers I was not able to give— I draw on my long-time fascination with layers, abstraction, ambiguity and gardening, as well as my practice of East Asian brush painting. Somehow they all work together.

The images themselves are digital composites printed on semi-translucent vellum. Hand-applying gold or silver-toned, metallic-leaf gilding to the backs of the pigment prints creates a shimmering glow evocative of sacred art. Varnishing each print three different times, painting on the adhesive, and methodically rubbing the gilding onto the vellum, hearkens back to the slow developing and handling of prints made from film negatives in the darkroom and, for me, establishes a stronger, loving connection to the prints and my memories of the individuals I’m memorializing.

Immersion in creating this tribute, with its acknowledgement of past significant relationships and the grief of losing my child, has been healing and is meant to heal others.

Laurie Peek (she/her) lives and works in Tappan, New York.
lauriepeek.com | @lauriepeek