Flowers tend to evoke certain adjectives in our minds. Soft. Romantic. Ruffly. Wild. Fragrant. Delicate. Straight-edged.
Wait ― straight-edged?
In a photo project by Japanese independent illustrator and artist Baku Maeda, soft and ruffly flowers really do get a straight-sided makeover. He calls the series “Bitflower,” and explained in an email to The Huffington Post that he created it with the idea of incorporating “an element of human being ... artificial ‘straight lines’ to natural curvature.”
At times, Maeda wrote, “a straight line creates an order, efficiency, as well as organization.” But this artificial, man-made straightness can also lead to “division, violence, and separation,” he pointed out. By turning natural, soft-petaled flowers into objects with sharp corners and neat lines, “Bitflower” juxtaposes the laws of nature with the laws of man in striking visual fashion.
Maeda told HuffPost he hoped his photos would prompt viewers to reconceptualize the definition of beauty. We’re taught to view flowers as inherently lovely, and, he wrote, “we tend to perceive that way without any logic. Then, what is beauty itself and ugliness? What constitutes them?”
Is a flower with ruler-straight lines edging its petals no longer beautiful? Or does the intrusion of human order jolt us to pay closer attention to the vibrant color of the petals, the delicate textures, and the intricate curves of the naturally formed flowers?