The One Bouquet per Day Series
In May 2013, I started The One Bouquet per Day Series, a long term photo series of self-portraits in flowers and a daily creative exercise of picking one bouquet of (wild)flowers a day. Between November and April, the project takes its usual winter break and will continue with the 11th season in May 2023.
From May through October, I pick flowers on my walks through meadows and fields, along roadsides and in overgrown parking lots. I gather a bouquet, take a photo and post it to Instagram under the hashtag #onebouquetperday together with a detailed description in English, Swedish, German and Latin of the botanical species that I have picked. That makes 184 bouquets a year, one each single day, without exception. Sometimes it is a sumptuous bouquet, sometimes a little nosegay, from time to time it is only two or three tiny flowers arranged in a thimble.
The One Bouquet per Day Series has been featured in Flow Magazine, Top Magazin Thüringen, MDR Kultur, The Sunday Times, the Norwegian DI Weekend Magasin, Gardenista, Radio Eins, SPON, ze.tt, Feels like Erfurt, Allers Trädgård, SisterMag, among others.
Gathering flowers was always a favourite childhood pastime of mine. As I grew older, it also became a way to meditate and to root myself in my surroundings. Turning it into a daily routine was like opening a door to something new though. I soon noticed how I started to see my surroundings differently, how my memory improved and how my inner map became more rich in detail. As a creative, I also recognised that sticking to the routine of picking one bouquet per day allows me to clean my mental windshield from what is unnecessary information and brings me back to what is essential for my work.
Over the years, the number of those who follow my daily gatherings has grown to more than 20K around the world. Many of them have joined me in picking one bouquet per day. Some do so for a couple of weeks to learn more about what is growing around them, others have found that having a purpose of being in nature every day helps to improve their mental health and well-being, it’s something to look forward to, a daily ritual.
I see myself as an advocate for Slow Flowers, a movement where florists, farmers and consumers focus on flowers that are locally, seasonally and ethically grown and/ or native to our surroundings. As someone who can reach out to many through my social media channels, I encourage my audience to recognise the value of locally sourced flowers that meet the Slow Flower movement criteria, whether it’s a bunch of flowers for the kitchen table, a gift or for an event. An extension of my One Bouquet per Day project is teaching plant and edible flower identification, natural plant dye classes and talks about the interaction of human population, cut flower consumption and biodiversity.
Photography details: In the very beginning, I shot all my photos for the project with my mobile phone. Since summer 2014, I take all my photos with the help of a DSLR camera and a tripod.
All images are available as art prints upon request.