The main characters of these images are played out by some of my favorite flowers. They were revealed by my discovery of anthropomorphic narratives seemingly inherent in otherwise serendipitous floral arrangements. As such, I have come to consider each of these images as a form of personal psychoanalysis and self-portraiture.

The word floriography used in the title of this body of work is a portmanteau, a blending of the terms floral and scanography. Historically speaking, floriography was an ancient way of encoding secret messages between affluent lovers through the specific choices used to create a gifted floral bouquet—a faddish means of private cryptography popular during the mid-19th Century.

A scanograph is a cameraless photograph captured through the narrow lens of a computer scanner. This process features a limited field of focus, lighting, and extreme fidelity of surface details. Thus, each decoded self-portrait has an enhanced sense of personal intimacy.

Throughout my 40 year career as both an artist and commercial designer, I have produced thousands of photos. In particular, this project builds on a wide range of experimental photographic works, including Xerography, scanner art, and diffusion transfer Polaroids.

I have also lectured on art and interactive design at The Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia College, and MIT's Media Lab. My work has been featured in a wide variety of venues ranging from websites such as ProjectCool.com, EFF.org; as well as in magazines including The Face, Entertainment Weekly, US News and World Reports, and Information Week. Several of my experimental images were published by the Polaroid Foundation.

More recently I was in a group show at the Sagamore Hotel, titled Tell Me a Story; featured at the KIWI Arts Group pop-up shop on Miami Beach's Lincoln Road; and created 14 works that are currently being installed in a new hotel in Sunny Isles.

Please contact Ilana Vardy at ilana@kv-projects.com for availability or follow my works-in-progress on my Floriography Tumblog.

©2015-17 Toby Braun. All rights reserved.
Last update: Oct 25, 2017