As soon as you step foot into a church, you enter a timelessness where it is neither day nor night, a candlelit and liminal space that’s just as medieval as it is current. Since 2019, Iris has visited over 170 churches and monasteries. Within those church walls she was on the hunt for one thing in particular: bouquets.
Botanical decorations are often overlooked in the ancient grandiosity and dark spectacle of religious buildings. Iris wanted to bring these symbols of mourning, rebirth, tribute and beauty to the forefront. Every still-life is the result of a human gesture. The more she started to focus on the flowers people left behind, the more she discovered a whole new story behind them.
Without control over the composition Iris became a spectator to these hommages. This lack of control became an inexhaustible source and quest for the miraculous ways of flowers in religious settings. Flowers for Mary offers a collection of modern vanitas, emphasizing both joy and decay.
Iris Bergman (Amsterdam,1993) studied at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht (2012-2016), where she graduated with honours. As a lens-based artist she focusses on still-life
and landscape photography, where botanical characters take the lead. Solo exhibitions include Gallery Untitled, Rotterdam (2022) and WORM/Slash Gallery, Rotterdam (2018).
Iris also participated in several group exhibitions amongst others at UNSEEN, Amsterdam (2022), Premium Bohemian, Gallery Untitled Rotterdam (2019), New Dutch Photography Talent, Amsterdam (2017). Since 2015 she works for Bertien van Manen, as her personal assistant.