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“I Am The Most Beautiful Flower in My Garden”
Statement
A wrought iron chair, marked by time, weather, and abandonment. Its structure, once firm and proud, now reveals—unashamedly—the traces of its history. Upon it, a garden begins to grow: woven with cords that cling like roots to its memory. From its cracks, a flower rises—radiant, weightless, unapologetic.
This intervention is an intimate reflection on self-judgment. We are, more often than not, our most relentless critics. We see ourselves through the lens of imperfection, comparison, and the constant sense of “not being enough.” But what if our inner voice offered tenderness? What if we saw ourselves as that flower that, despite everything, still chooses to bloom?
"I am the most beautiful flower in my garden" is not a narcissistic claim, but an act of reconciliation. It is the possibility of recognizing ourselves as a vital part of our emotional landscape. To understand that even in the midst of wear and decay, we are capable of beauty, of care, of light.
The flower blooming from this chair does not attempt to imitate an idealized blossom. Rather, it evokes the free, vibrant, and airy form of the Red Flowering Gum (Corymbia ficifolia), a wild species known for its long stamens and expansive energy. Both—the crafted and the natural—share a vital quality: they do not conform to perfect symmetry or restraint. They bloom urgently, unapologetically, as if the very act of opening were itself a declaration of existence.
This garden does not grow outside. It grows within. And in it, we are—inevitably—the most beautiful flower, simply by existing.
Title: “I Am the Most Beautiful Flower in My Garden”
Artist: Paola Mondolfi.
Year: 2025.
Medium: Vintage Wrought iron chair, intervened with woven cord and handmade textile flowers.
Dimensions: 27 x 20 x 20 inch.
Bernice Steinbaum Gallery.
Miami Florida . U.S.A
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