Stephanie Pino

The Language of Gothic Flowers is a series I’ve been developing throughout 2023. The series explores elements of existentialism, mortality, fragility, beauty, the supernatural, and the gothic through a fantastical representation of motifs from classic and modern gothic literature. By expressing flora and fauna in a nostalgic illustrative style, I use darker symbolism that can be obscured by the delicate nature of the illustrative style. Upon closer inspection you may find there is something sinister hiding beneath the beauty of the flowers in these paintings. Through these paintings I explore the relationships between these motifs and elements of the human consciousness to evoke feelings of curiosity, nostalgia, and unease within the viewer. My love for reading led me to create this series of paintings which hides symbolistic elements of horror from my favourite Victorian inspired gothic tales in startling and strange, or unassuming flowers.