Jazmines 12 [Jasmines 12]

The day before the lockdown, someone gave me a bunch of jasmines. I took them to the kitchen and left them in a ceramic jug on the lunch table. Those flowers were extremely vulnerable, they inspired nostalgia, and, in the air, I could smell the life that they no longer promised. There we were, the flowers and I, while I was wondering if we would ever go back, if we would ever do the same things again. I have never seen myself painting flowers, but I started taking photos of them, and during the confinement, I took a work habit and painted those flowers dozens of times. Before, I had read about an album cover where there was a still life by Fantin-Latour and a Richter’s phrase: Power, corruption and lies.