Once upon a time, before Coronavirus was an all-threatening global pandemic, I was working on a senior thesis project about a stride I had hit in life. Great friends, inspired artwork, a double degree in sight, I had it made. I created a collage that I saw as a type of document to record my life at the time. The plan was to continue adding to this collage, but that plan quickly came to a halt as soon as COVID-19 hit. All of a sudden, I found myself starting my senior spring quarter with no idea what my new reworked thesis was going to look like. In search of inspiration and embracing the rules of quarantine, I found myself outside for walks in my neighborhood frequently. I became enamored with the transition from winter to spring, obsessed with the changing leaves and blooming flowers. Seeing the flowers was a beacon of hope for me—things around me seemed to be crumbling and cancelled left and right, but there was one thing I could know for sure: spring and the blossoming of the flowers could never be cancelled.

Creating a record of these trying times was really important for me; I wanted to have some sort of proof or explanation of how the pandemic has affected me and my art. Thus, I decided to continue with the spirit of documentation in creating what I call a “floral log.” I photographed several of the gorgeous flowers around me and then arranged them into a digital journal, complete with dates and captions from my notebook. My floral log and the joy I get from photographing flowers has definitely gotten me through the past weeks, reminding me that mother nature always pulls through with her best and brightest, especially when it matters the most!