Circadian Nocturne

I found it interesting that there is no definitive list of night-blooming flowers—it is not a trait that seems to have any particular value so it has not been recorded in the same systematic way that things like climate, soil type, or colour have. I had to find them by talking to academics, botanists and gardeners to create my own version. Some of them I grew across the year, with different flowers blooming at different times to document for my training set. Night blooming and night scented flowers are often white, having evolved over thousands of years to reflect moonlight for the nocturnal pollinators (moths, bats etc) that they depend upon for survival. Now light pollution confuses this dynamic as the moon is no longer the only source of light at night. This piece was originally presented at Times Square, one of the most frenetic, light-polluted places, which I think brings a tension to the work. The scale of that presentation, with all of the monumental screens, meant that human scale became that of an insect. This shrinking probably links into my broader interest in deep time and our own small place in the vastness of the universe. As part of the Times Square screening, I also made an app so that the work was also available outside of the geographical boundaries of New York City but only at midnight, wherever it was accessed. There is a long tradition of watch parties for night-blooming flowers, particularly cactuses, where people gather and wait through the darkness to see the beauty of a flower that blooms for only a single night. In Eudora Wetly's Wanderers observing the night blooming cereus, described as "naked, luminous, complicated", is a reminder of the beauty of life, however fleeting. This communal vigil for something ephemeral felt resonant with the midnight presentation - strangers across sharing attention for something that will soon be gone.