David LaChapelle
Earth Laughs in Flowers: Deathless Winter, 2008-2011
Chromogenic print
40x26.66 inches
Earth Laughs In Flowers Inspired by a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson suggesting that the earth rejoices through flowers, this series Earth Laughs In Flowers combines the natural beauty of flowers with human presence through natural and artificial elements. LaChapelle uses flowers as metaphors for life, beauty, and fragility, symbols of rebirth and renewal.
The still-life photographs in this series, reminiscent of Baroque still lifes, may appear classical at first glance, but upon closer examination, they reveal a reflection on the era in which we live. The images feature everyday and contemporary objects that, in the absence of the human figure, represent aspects of modern life. Like in the Baroque period, where still lifes conveyed the fleeting nature of life and worldly pleasures in the face of death's certainty, LaChapelle's works invite us to contemplate the ephemeral nature of life and the spiritual quest in a materialistic world, while celebrating life and its pleasures before its end.
“Flowers look beautiful for a finite amount of time, and then they expire”
— David LaChapelle
The still-life photographs in this series, reminiscent of Baroque still lifes, may appear classical at first glance, but upon closer examination, they reveal a reflection on the era in which we live. The images feature everyday and contemporary objects that, in the absence of the human figure, represent aspects of modern life. Like in the Baroque period, where still lifes conveyed the fleeting nature of life and worldly pleasures in the face of death's certainty, LaChapelle's works invite us to contemplate the ephemeral nature of life and the spiritual quest in a materialistic world, while celebrating life and its pleasures before its end.
“Flowers look beautiful for a finite amount of time, and then they expire”
— David LaChapelle
DLC005/2025