Symbolism is something I have always been very interested in, I love how simple objects in our everyday lives can come across with such strong and powerful meanings. I really love working with symbolism and understanding what different things can represent. When I was creating the Athena shoot, I researched into what she represented, from which I fund that she often is represented as someone with immense courage and bravery, after I found this out I would go and look into what would visually represent this concept, when I found out that in ancient Greece, Thyme (the herb) symbolized this, I was quite amazed that something I had only ever seen as a simple herb could represent something so incredible.
Symbolism is a late 19th century movement which became very popular amount artists in Europe between 1886 and 1900. It began by being popularized within poetry and creative writing but it slowly emerged into the visual arts world.
Translations for still-life symbolism could fill a small dictionary, but here are a few of our favourites to look out for…
Lobster, shellfish or meat: wealth, gluttony and temptation
Poppies or dead animals: death. Poppy is also the flower that produces opium, the character of mortal sin of laziness.
Rose: the flower of Venus, symbol of love and sex
Crown: like masks, symbolize the absence of those who wore them.
Pomegranates: fertility (a metaphor for Persephone & Hades)
Globe: the earth and the Sky
Glass: a life of luxury.
I love how a lot of symbolism comes into Greek mythology, almost every aspect has some hidden represented meaning. Also how this website is complete unrelated to Greek mythology, yet it still references it - Pomegranates: fertility (a metaphor for Persephone & Hades).
Awkwardly, I didn’t exactly look up the meaning of the flower I used in my photo shoot, I just rushed it and took any flower I could find. Only to find out that the non scientific name is ‘Morning Glory’ which could be taken slightly in the wrong way. Oops….
Although, the meaning of the flower is -
Morning Glory flowers traditionally hold the symbolic meaning of unrequited love and obsession in the language of flowers. In Japan the flower is symbolic of both innocence and love, making it a common gift between young lovers
Which is very sweet and as someone who, when able to feel a connection and love towards someone, feels it very strongly. To me, the very few people who I feel this extreme love for are the people who give me hope for the future. So in a very odd and unexpected way, this flower does in fact represent hope, which is exactly what I wanted for this concept.
Even though a lot of objects already have meanings, I find it very interesting to see what each individual feels when ever they see certain objects in a different setting to what they are used to seeing them. It’s interesting to see if people will depict out the meaning which I am trying to put across or if they will create their own set meaning of each. For this reason, I will not be giving away the meanings I have onto the audience with my final piece and instead would like to leave a notebook to see what they feel each item means or how the composition as a whole makes them feel.