Opening Reception - Hidden Stories: The Secret Language of Still Life & Floriography

Join us at Culture Lab LIC for the opening reception of Hidden Stories: The Secret Language of Still Life & Floriography, an exhibition curated by Tess Howsam. To celebrate, we will be sharing in a night of live music, light bites, open beer, and white wine. We hope you'll join us!

Still lifes in today's art scene are often associated with the pedagogical. For many artists, it is one of the first modes through which they learn to see and translate the world around them. Yet to frame still life solely as an introductory practice is to overlook the depth and complexity embedded within its history. 

Still lifes have historically carried layered meanings, from studies of daily life to functioning as poignant memento mori. Many art historians point to the rich symbolism embedded within these works as a way of understanding the values and concerns of their time. This raises a compelling question: what stories or messages do today’s still lifes capture?

This exhibition situates contemporary still life within its historical lineage, while expanding its language through the parallel framework of floriography—the coded symbolism of flowers. Historically also used to communicate what could not be spoken openly, floriography offers a subtle yet potent vocabulary of emotion, resistance, and intention. When placed in dialogue with still life, these two traditions reveal a shared capacity for concealment and disclosure.

In reexamining still life,this exhibition proposes that these “still” objects are anything but passive and flowers are more than just beautiful. Instead, they are active carriers of meaning—holding within them the possibility of reflection, critique, and transformation.