Last December, I stumbled upon an amaryllis bulb at Walmart. I had never owned one before and had no idea what kind of plant it was. The attached instructions were intriguing: no water needed, just sunshine! I merely had to sit back and watch it grow. My kind of plant!
I immediately fell head over heels for my exotic bulb. Watching it sprout felt like welcoming an alien into my home, a nod to *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*, minus the creepy body-swapping. Instead of turning me into an emotionless pod person, my plant did quite the opposite: it grew so quickly that I couldn’t resist documenting its daily metamorphosis. Pure magic!
I’ve always had a soft spot for buds, the way they’re tightly wrapped just before they unfurl their layers, curls, secret shapes and cavernous nooks into full blooms.
Over the holidays, and well beyond, my amaryllis surprised me by completing its bloom cycle three times! It withered, dried out, and then, just when I thought it was done for, sprang back to life for yet another round. Who knew a bulb could thrive for so long without water? I photographed it daily, captivated by the process. It reminded me of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.
I started playing with the images, zooming in on the buds, cropping out backgrounds, and occasionally applying filters. Shapes, colours and textures became increasingly otherworldly hinting at future artworks. Here are a few glimpses of my experiments.
Eventually, I set those images aside to focus on other projects. Then an email landed in my inbox: the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion put out a call for submissions around the theme of *mutation*. The project involved redesigning the barrel lanterns they’d installed in 2022; large, glowing cylinders that had turned Park 405 into a magical centrepiece for the city’s year-end celebrations.
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| Lumin'art Project 2022 - Barrel lanterns - Photo Christian Gonzalez |
In 2022, I contributed a design titled *Red Noses*. Here’s what it looked like:
The image was wrapped around a white barrel and illuminated from its interior.
The scale added an extra wow factor.
This year, the barrels will showcase new designs. I felt my amaryllis-inspired experiments were just right for the *mutation* theme. Fresh off projects like *Suite Botanique* in 2023 and *A Little Improbable Garden* during last summer’s art residency, my creative headspace was perfectly tuned to ideas of transformation and growth.
Here’s a glimpse of the amaryllis bud that became the starting point for this year’s lantern project. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this story, where I’ll share how this bud blossomed into my final design.
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