Alichia van Rhijn’s, Ouma’s Fuschia, is part of the series Blomme. In this series Alichia presents sculptural works that reference early memories of childhood, both before her immigration to Australia and after. When her ouma (grandmother) passed earlier this year, van Rhijn began thinking about the roles of flowers within her own heritage and memories; as well as the women in her life; their flower gardens and what flowers meant to them.

Visceral memories of exploring her great aunt’s overgrown rose garden; watching her ouma plant flower seedlings; and picking roadside blooms with her mother and sisters began to arise – shifting and changing as they spanned the fluidity of time.

These explorations of femininity and Matriarchal structures and bonds have resulted in a series of works alluding to the memories of a childhood spent surrounded by flowers and the strong women who grew and collected them. These forms investigate phenomenological notions, alluding to personal and shared experience, memory, nostalgia and trauma. Through the use of distilled minimalist forms, symbolic and ritualistic totems are presented, hoping to initiate pause and contemplation.