Flesh in Bloom
Flesh in Bloom is a body of photographic & botanical works developed during Laura Sikes’ Next Level Fellowship with Regional Arts WA. Working across studio photography and collage, Sikes layers botanical materials onto bodily forms, producing images that serve as portraiture, arrangement, and abstract composition.
Drawing from parallel practices as artist and florist, Sikes approaches image-making through acts of collection and arrangement. Organic materials are gathered and arranged alongside the body, with skin, petals, leaves, shadows, and landscape treated as equal elements within the image. Through processes of layering and re-photography, both in and beyond the studio, forms merge between physical presence and constructed surface.
Developed in collaboration with models, the works show material sensitivity to both the human and non-human natural world. Physical and digital methods are used in dialogue, allowing images to accumulate texture and abstraction across multiple stages of production.
