IN CARNATIONS: Ben Barbetta Thompson & Misha Todirascu

Carnis: the Latin word describing the flesh of a plant or animal. In the artistic tradition, ‘carnation’ refers to the imitation of flesh, its depiction and display, evoking imagery of carnality, desire, reincarnation—of death, life, vulnerability, desire, and artistry.

Our age is one of plastic-wrapped perfection, of limitless consumption, of cycles spun into hyper-speed. Our disdain for natural processes grows, and our connection to these rhythms and their teachings becomes increasingly tenuous. Presenting a real-time performance of a natural lifecycle, Ben Barbetta Thompson and Misha Todirascu collaborate to oppose this cultural trend. Within the four walls of Passage, a sacred space is formed in which death and decay are honoured as essential, beautiful, and profound.

Suspended, a nude figure reclines provocatively in the rapture of final rest, a rare ecstasy. The natural variation in Barbetta Thompson’s silkscreen technique lends each iteration its own character, creating a canvas populated not by soulless replicas, but distinct individuals at different stages of existence, captured at different moments of creation, stained blood-red. In this depiction flesh is exposed; its tenderness is recognised as an important reminder of our own mortality. Although Barbetta Thompson’s methods are a subversion of the classical, his exploration of the human body and its divine intricacy rings timeless.

Pushing the boundaries of floristry and remembering the craft's ritualistic origins, Todirasu’s organic sculpture is a celebration of the beauty of natural forms and their power as living beings to provoke us. As skeletal branches intertwine with withered organs of grass, the installation draws parallels with the human forms that hang above it, delicate entrails of petals and stems. Handed out during the exhibition's opening night the white carnations, typically presented at weddings, and the remaining dramatic red that sees the species favored for funerals, a symbolism of the interconnection of beginning and end. Todirascu lays these entangled figures to rest, to enact their fated decomposition, a ritual death that demands our witness.

Amidst our daily commute, surrounded by glaring displays of vibrant life and faultless beauty, how often do we pause to truly appreciate the subtle, ever-changing nature of the world, and of ourselves? Offering repose from our culture of mindless repetition and pursuits of time-bending perfection, In Carnations embraces delicacy and vulnerability through the sensual beauty of organic life.

Liliana Munoz Flannery

In remembrance of Alexandre Prat