Still Life, Still, Life

Dried flowers have always fascinated me since I was a child. To Vietnamese students, the end of May means a hastening deadline to harvest and dry those flamboyant red Royal Poinciana petals to gift to your friends (or first love) - a way to capture those last schooldays memories forever between sheets of notebook papers, scribbled with “forget-me-not” promises in deep violet ink.

Perhaps that is why I love harnessing each season’s essence in the form of dried florals - dead but very much alive. As my favorite poet, Kim Namjoon, so eloquently penned it: ”Still life. Still, Life.”