Consuming Cut Flowers (An analysis of the industry and consumer culture)

A commodity is defined as a product that can be bought and sold. An object is “commodified” when it is transformed into a product that can go through the buy-and-sell process, assigning it economic value. This process applies to physical goods, services, ideas, and even cultural practices.

Through exploring cut flowers as a commodified product, this project investigates what is involved in upkeeping the systems of commodities and what is lost in consumer culture — memories, history, and personal connections. 

Synthesizing personal experience from growing flowers, and researching insights from literature review and interviews, the outcome presents a double narrative in the form of a collection book and documentary video. The first, from an industry standpoint that maps the untold and unnoticed perspectives of the cut flower business. The second, an unravelling of perception towards cut flowers. This allows us to appreciate the time, labor, and beauty of the cut flowers, as well as provides us with the overarching metaphor for how we interact with each other.

This project hopes to recognize the large disconnect between buying a packaged product versus being a part of the process of creating, troubleshooting, and growing. I hope to spark curiosity in the viewer, both on the larger world of cut flowers, and how consumer culture has resulted in the simplification of our knowledge and the distancing between humans and other beings.
  Collection Book 2025