Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay\u2019s work has explored floral themes since the early 2010s. Ongoing concerns in his work include flowers as tools for translation, narrative, and navigation. His series Arrangements<\/em> (2018\u2013ongoing) involves the collection and composition of non-botanical materials and plants and flowers: in one example, a branch positioned in a ceramic bowl is surrounded by what seems to be a deflated bicycle tube, twisted around a gathering of pussy willows. In this case, a narrative concerning the artist\u2019s scavenging of materials comes into focus : for instance, a tire tube from a dumpster, or a bit of snarled metal from a construction site make their way into these compositions in which discarded commodities are positioned next to sumptuous plant life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u00c0 Fleurer<\/em>(2016\u20132017) personal correspondence written by the artist is given to a florist who interprets tone and topic of each missive into a floral arrangement exhibited in a gallery. The Five Ages<\/em> (2015) retells histories through floral arrangement and performance centred on a custom-made vase: Nemerofsky selected five flowers to signify episodes connected to the name \u201cEl Dorado,\u201d which has many associations in Berlin, including a gay cabaret in that city, and the title of an exhibition focused on gay and lesbian identity that took place at a Berlin museum in the 1980s. Each \u201cventricle\u201d of the vase holds a different flower and has a year\u2019s date inscribed on it, fashioning an episodic history connected to queer life. The artist gave a performative tour of the work and its histories while arranging flowers in the vase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affect is central to this work: the poise of each arrangement and performance sparks feelings of longing, pleasure, and eros. By my reading, this work evokes a deft gaze toward lexicons of floral vocabulary popularized in the Victorian era \u2014 floriography \u2014 while also confusing such codification. This work explores the femme, frivolous associations of flowers and their arrangement, which have motivated the artist to consider how and why the floral is a maligned category under the conditions of heteropatriarchy and capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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