Petal Power

Once, when artist Kristen Hatgi Sink was photographing a friend, she was struck by the idea of putting flowers on her model’s face. But she needed a way to do it. The answer? False-eyelash glue. “Gluing flowers to people’s faces was actually pretty hard for me to do,” says Hatgi...

By Robin Edwards

February 13, 2014

Audio By Carbonatix

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Once, when artist Kristen Hatgi Sink was photographing a friend, she was struck by the idea of putting flowers on her model’s face. But she needed a way to do it. The answer? False-eyelash glue. “Gluing flowers to people’s faces was actually pretty hard for me to do,” says Hatgi Sink. “I mean to say that covering people’s faces is not a natural action.”

But the results — large-scale works of people with flowers arranged on their faces and in their hair — are the basis for her new photo collection, Flower Face: A Still Life Portrait Series. Shot in her kitchen using dusk lighting, the pictures are beautiful and surreal, combining aspects of both portraiture and still life. The colors of the flowers were chosen specifically to suit each individual’s style and personality.

“There is an uneasiness about the work that comes from the push and pull of the flowers and the faces,” explains Hatgi Sink. “The work is lit and displayed very traditionally, or Vermeer-like, with natural light and flowers, but the arrangement of the flowers on the face is unsettling and uncomfortable.”

Flower Face opens tonight at the Byers-Evans House, 1310 Bannock Street, with a reception from 5 to 9 p.m., and will stay up through February. For more information, visit kristenhatgi.com.
Fri., Jan. 3, 5-9 p.m.; Mondays-Saturdays. Starts: Jan. 3. Continues through Feb. 28, 2014

Robin Edwards

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