Everyone wants to escape, by any means necessary.
This is particularly true in Florida, a place whose very existence is rooted in fantasy, mirage and absurdity. Every story in Florida is connected to the idea of escape, whether by wanton desire, necessity or force. It is a place warped by dissociative tendencies as much as heat.
the Land of Flowers is a visual exploration of the peculiar paradise of Florida and, by extension, the experience of self in such a place of mirage where what is real and what is not are blurred. What began as a pandemic means of, yes, escape has become an ongoing evermore visual meditation on what it means to live in such a blurred reality. It is also a challenge to the conventions of a narrative, as it seeks no end; in practice, the project is designed to live in perpetuity in some new planar space of image, memory and existence. The hurricane doesn't stop to make sense of itself. Florida certainly doesn't either. the Land of Flowers, too.
the Land of Flowers, in essence, seeks to encapsulate the chaos inherent to and on vivid display in Florida, as well as the disorienting destruction, reality, confusion and pain that comes with life here. (The project is fully rooted in and imbued with a sense of place: all photos are taken on film in Florida, and most are processed and scanned here, as well.)
That Florida is a stage for chaos is plain. With the Land of Flowers, we take one step further. What life here shows, in technicolor, if you look closely, is that this peculiar paradise is merely a reflection of the real mirage within all of us. That impenetrable house of mirrors we so desperately try to, and yet can't, escape.
the Land of Flowers is merely an attempt to capture the light bouncing off the reflections. If successful, a new mirror emerges.
the Land of Flowers is a visual project created by A.W. Geiger, a photographer and journalist based out of Florida (on Seminole, Timucua, Miccosukee and Mascogo land), her birthplace and home. She documents life and light from the swamp, the shore and the shadow.
