In an effort to support their investigation of what ‘Photography’ as a medium may be today, to add to the development of the medium Image Making and to bring art to the public, Ryan Blackwell & Nastassia Winge (founders Beyond Photography) created their special project named “Flowers”. “Flowers” portrays an exploration of the merging realms of manual and digital production, opening up the discussion whether ‘Photography’ as we know it is, indeed, dead. The aim was to create a simple, yet elegant image that captivated the notion of Post-Production as an art form through dripping flowers. 

"Flower" was initiated in support of Beyond Photography's first exhibition held at Left Bank, Leeds on the 24st of February 2018. The duo decided to take their project to the next level and expand it in the form of a book, an exhibition, a fashion film and an overall grand collection (more information tba). The main aim of the project t is to not only take on the history of photography, which is so extremely tied to their core values as artists, but also take on art history as a whole. When they set up this project, they asked theirselves: what has been an iconic subject matter for painters, sculptures, but also photographers and videographers? To them, that is the image of a flower. 'Flower imagery has a huge tradition within art and we strive to apply our core values of Beyond Photography to this ever iconic imagery', Ryan stated. 

'With our “Flowers” project, we talk about the digital, the post-digital and the possibilities of how far one can go with Image Making through the re-invented depiction of the ever iconic image of the flower. Through our artworks, we strive to explain to our audience what Image Making means and how far one can go with it. We believe the possibilities are endless. Technology has given us this new art tool, now it’s time to go out and play with it, ' Nastassia added. As a Dutch-British artist duo, they found it tremendously important to create their work in The Netherlands, as still life painting and flower imagery is so culturally tied to The Netherlands. Dutch cultural heritage holds the most iconic history of flower imagery and therefore they believe that it is there, where the project will have the most impact. “Flowers” is greatly inspired by the great Dutch masters of painting (such as Rysch, Van Gogh, van Huysum). With “Flowers” the duo aims to re-actuate this important archive of Dutch cultural heritage by ‘reinventing’ these ever iconic flower still life paintings. “Flowers” takes traditional still life paintings and skews the perspective of something so prevalent in Dutch cultural heritage in order to re-actuate the paintings and promote them in today’s digital age. 

'In this digital age, photography, and mostly painting, does not, and should not, have to be forgotten. Out of admiration for these paintings, we attempted to create  something revolutionary out of this traditional imagery, yet always with utmost respect to its predecessors,' Nastassia added. By promoting a new medium through the glorifying of classic imagery, Beyond Photography aims to bridge the divides between Art and Photography, between Photography and Image Making, between Analogue and Digital and between the past and the present. "Flowers" as a project looks back at the past, reactuates it but also looks forward to the future and shows that photography is not a threat to painting, and the digital not to photography or art, but that art is all about looking forward.