Series 3: The Awkwardness of Vacation

Description

Series 3:

Awkwardness of Vacation

Long before we had keyboards, reaction buttons and emojis, we had flowers. A bouquet has always carried messages too difficult to reduce to words: I’m sorry. I’m thinking of you. I love you. Congratulations. I miss you. Across cultures and generations, flowers have been humanity’s original shorthand for emotion.

In this painting, a robot stands quietly holding a bouquet, caught in a moment of hesitation. Built to process information rather than feelings, it finds itself relying on one of humanity’s oldest languages a gesture instead of an explanation.

The contrast is intentional. While technology has given us thousands of digital symbols to express ourselves instantly, the act of giving flowers remains slow, vulnerable and deeply personal. Unlike an emoji, they cannot be sent without intention. They require presence. The work reflects on the strange evolution of communication. We have become more connected than ever, yet often less expressive. We can send a heart in a second, but hesitate to knock on a door holding a bouquet.

By placing flowers in the hands of a machine, the painting asks a simple question: in an age where emotions are increasingly digitised, what still feels unmistakably human?

Perhaps flowers are not old-fashioned after all.

They are simply the original emojis made not for screens, but for the real world.