"I have always loved flowers. It has been my special interest from a very young age, and I have been privileged to work in the floristry industry since 2016. What is most important to me now, what I feel proud to offer under my own name, is truly beautiful flowers. To me, they can’t be beautiful if they have been flown across the globe at great cost to the environment. That’s a shadow I can no longer overlook.
What does it mean to be truly seasonal? I think it fits perfectly with what we mean when we communicate with flowers, as we have done for so long. Seasonality is about here and now, and the present moment is what is shared when we send flowers. I want to celebrate everything each season has to offer, and not a moment sooner. And I think that tells a story of love of the best kind."
Fonte: Biografia Ufficiale
•Chiara: Hi Julia! It's a pleasure to interview you! First question that I always ask. What does a regular day look like for you?
Every day is different, which isn't surprising as I work across different fields. Some days I receive flower deliveries at dawn before going to a photo shoot and then a poetry reading in the evening. Some days I just wake up and write until I get hungry. The only constants are that I journal every night and try to sew for even a few minutes. I have been working on an embroidered tapestry piece since 2012, so a little bit every day is my goal.
•Chiara: When was your passion for flowers born? And what do you see in them?
Honestly I'm not really sure. It never began in a way, there are photos of me holding flowers since I was an infant. I held a rose bud in all the photos of my christening. I have quite a complex fascination with flowers, there's so much meaning in their existence alone, but we have ascribed them so much more meaning as a medium, we talk to each other with them, we live and die with them, we mark big moments with flowers. I think they are stitched into my understanding of time and beauty and humanity. I think flowers can be expounded upon for endless metaphors. And I love metaphors.
•Chiara: Which is the season that represents you the most and which flower best describes your personality?
I love the end of Winter. I love how hidden all the flowers are, which I wanted to emphasise with this installation. I think the best beauty has to be looked for. This is what Winter does, it makes you search for life. I don't really identify with a particular flower, maybe an iris. Dramatic, and delicate in some ways, tough in others.
•Chiara: Can you walk me through your creative process, from beginning to the end result?
Is there any painting in particular that inspired you for your beautiful installations?
I think my team will tell you that it's very difficult to work with me. I feel like I go somewhere else when I am working and sometimes it's very confusing. Sometimes I feel great clarity, imminent satisfaction and know exactly how a composition will come to be. Other times I feel a lot of pain and anguish, being dragged by the materials to a final result I can't predict. I do feel I am lucky at least to have a good sense of when something is done. Of course, most of my work ends up a photograph, which is a whole other process. Modelling has given me a good grasp of that aspect, I want to flatter the flowers. A few still life paintings helped me articulate the environment I wanted to create in this auspicious space. I am also inspired by Stephen Gill's The Pillar series, which takes portraits of birds landing on a fence post over a long period of time. Illuminated manuscripts of the medieval period are also some of the best depictions of florals to me, seeming as holy as the prayers themselves.
•Chiara: What led you to agree to exhibit for the Augusteo of Serino aqueduct in Naples?
The premise of this installation appeals to my interest in history and the human story. It was very easy to say yes.
•Chiara: What motivates you? I want to affect people, I want to be changed by my practice and I want evidence of the process. Chiara: How do you approach poetry with your floral installations?
Arranging words is a lot like arranging flowers, there's a hunt for inspiration, for material. There's all the unseen preparation, and I think that's where I should stay. I don't want to be manifest when you look at an installation or a composition or read a poem. I like the finality of these media, the viewer is alone to think. •Chiara: Favorite poet?
Louise Glück
•Chiara: Last question that I always like to ask, which is the song that represents you the most?
(Nothing but) Flowers by Talking Heads
