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BLOSSOM HOLY SHOW Flowers are a perennially popul
ar motif throughout art history. And for good reason: lush with texture and colour, a living bouquet of blooms can be made to communicate much through the masterly brushstrokes of Vincent Van Gogh or Georgia O’Keeffe, in the hands of a skilled ikebana artist, or through the lens of contemporary photography. For more than two decades, Swiss photographer Anna Halm Schudel has focused her eye on flowers, zooming in on calyxes, pistils, and leaf veins to create exuberant feasts of colours. While celebrating the wide variety of shapes and sizes that nature and human cultivation have brought us, Schudel is no less fascinated by the process of decay. As the flowers fade, wilt, and wither, she transforms them under water into images of strange, compelling beauty, to combine their delicate beauty with a stirring memento mori. 80 strikingly beautiful colour plates are complemented by two essays that examine Schudel’s symbolism and put her work in context with the history of the floral still life. As exquisite as the subject itself, this beautifully designed large book is sure to inspire appreciation for this rising Swiss artist. Scheidegger & Spiess, €48 fotoschudelhalm.com It’s always a thrill to see cultural magazines being added to the shrinking stable, especially when they are of the calibre of Holy Show. Presenting “all flavours of life, society and culture through the eyes of Ireland’s artists and writers,” issue one includes a gonzo travelogue to dawn Easter mass in Kerry, an essay on bogs, family and Alzheimer’s disease; a conversation set round a kitchen table in Kinvara about a long lost portrait and musings on a piece of RTÉ archival footage from Halloween in County Cavan 1986 with original illustrations. Contributors include Lisa McInerney, Senator Lynn Ruane, Gary Coyle, Roisín Kiberd, Laura Sheeran and Manchán Magan. €10 holyshow.ie Vegan Food & Lifestyle 28 & 29 September 2019, 11am-6pm, Griffith College Campus Dublin Vegfest dublinvegfest.com TICKETS ON SPONSORS: