There is behind the beauty of any flower a poetic ground to stand on. They sit right at the intersection of beauty, impermanence, and meaning. They are ephemeral, blooms briefly, radiantly, then fades and falls—the idea of a ruin and its beauty that keeps on repeating itself. They are the loss and the rebirth at the same time.
Xavier Verhoest
The flowers are my home and the springs my oceans (for Palestine), mixed media on paper, 100x65cm, 2025You came into my dream (for Palestine), mixed media on vinyl, 80x60cm, 2025Homeland for Palestine (study), mixed media on paper, 19x10cm, 2025Erasure for Palestine (study 2), mixed media on paper, 10x15cm, 2024Erasure for Palestine (study 1), mixed media on paper, 10x15cm, 2024Tears (study for us), mixed media on paper, 45x24cm, 2022There is nothing to fear, mixed media on vinyl, 100x70cm, 2021La Fleur de Personne, mixed media on wood and glass, 55x35x8cm, 2018Et je leve les yeux vers le ciel, mixed media collage on paper, 40x30cm, 2017South Sudan (7) mixed media on Bible in Dinka, 18x12cm, 2016South Sudan (2) Mixed media on Bible in Dinka, 18x12cm, 2016Memento Mori (study III), mixed media on paper, 42x29cm, 2016Ode au Silence, mixed media on vinyl, 90x60cm, 2014Study for Flowers, mixed media and collage on paper, 26x21cm, 2012In Silence (Memento Mori 1), Mixed media on vinyl, 110x145cm, 2012Dans les lieux deserts, tu oses te murmurer, mixed media, 100x70cm, 2011Fleur de sang, mixed media on board, 110x110cm, 2010Il me faudrait un nom mais je ne suis pas attendu (2), 40x40cm, mixed media, 2010Il me faudrait un nom, mais je ne suis pas attendu (1), mixed media on vinyl, 40x40cm, 2009The Memory of Plants, mixed media on canvas, 150x150cm, 2008Fleur de sang et de pierre, mixed media on metal, 100x65cm, 2003
Another time. It was still night. Water slid Silently on the black ground, And I knew that my only task would be To remember, and I laughed, I bent down, I took from the mud A pile of branches and leaves, I lifted up the whole dripping mass In arms I held close to my heart. What to do with this wood where The sound of color rose from so much absence, It hardly mattered, I went in haste, looking for At least some kind of shed, beneath the load Of branches that were full of Rough edges, stabbing pains, points, cries. And voices that cast shadows on the road, Or called to me, and, my heart beating fast, I turned around to face the empty road.