Introducing Tussie Mussie
WTF is a Tussie Mussie?
Well, as well as being a pleasing collection of nonsense syllables, a tussie-mussie is a small posy of flowers that was used in the Victorian era to communicate secret messages via floriography.
In Victorian floriography specific flowers represented specific things, for example a sweet pea in your tussie mussie meant 'gratitude', and a zinnia meant 'everlasting friendship'. Different combinations of flowers could be used to build up quite complex messages - all without saying a word...
(You can read more about this fascinating topic here.)
Why I chose to call this collection Tussie Mussie
I use flowers in a highly symbolic way in my paintings, and they are often present in my work to represent my emotional state or to communicate something I am unable to. As an autistic person I can suffer from alexithymia, which is when an individual has difficulty identifying, describing, and expressing emotions.
Think of each one of the paintings in this new collection as a sort of tussie mussie. A bouquet of flowers acting as my secret messengers, conveying that which is beyond my verbal reach.
Unlike the rigid structure of Victorian floriography, though, my blooms are abstract and untethered. They explode across the canvas in a riot of colour and texture, and are unabashed in their expression.
Each one communicates something to you, the viewer. Each painting has a message - perhaps it’s for you, or perhaps it’s for the person standing next to you. Each painting will resonate with someone who’s on the same frequency.
And sometimes, like in a game of Telephone, perhaps the exact meaning gets lost along the way, but the essence always remains.
A few of my favourite pieces…
