

About the book:
The Hortus project is an open investigation into the nature of seemingly common objects through 'Floriography', urban gardens, and the history of female rights. Hortus was inspired by urban gardens in West Amsterdam and created with its plants by Lilia Luganskaia.
Joanna Cresswell about the 'Hortus':
History teaches us that a language of flowers can communicate endless things about the culture in which it emerged, and herein lies Lilia Luganskaia's interest. Taking inspiration from the world of 19th Century sentimental flower books, Hortus presents itself as a set of notes towards a modern handbook for contemporary floriography, considering what the discipline might look like today. By collecting common flora across one year in the urban gardens around her home in Amsterdam and cross-referencing their meanings with publications from the past, Luganskaia reflects on their natures, their roles, and the symbolic familiarity they might hold for the communities living with them. A female artist and reader of the twenty-first century, she seeks out the essence of modern life through her lens, and through flowers, just like the women who came before her.






Order the Book:
Hortus, Special edition:
Signed Book + Polaroid
The limited edition of the book is signed and numbered (12 copies) and comes with a unique Polaroid photo.
Concept, photography & production by Lilia Luganskaia
Graphic design and cover illustration by Timo Kuilder
Foreword by Joanna Cresswell
Polaroid: 6.2 x 9.9 cm, unique
Book size: 24 x 33 cm, 40 pages
Printing: Offset, hardcover, full color
Edition of 10/12.
Published in Amsterdam, 2021
Price:
€100,00 (ex shipping)


Hortus, Book
The book contains forty-one still-life, the behind-the-scenes studio shoots, and visual research documentation.
Concept, photography & production by Lilia Luganskaia
Graphic design and cover illustration by Timo Kuilder
Foreword by Joanna Cresswell
Book size: 24 x 33 cm, 40 pages
Printing: Offset, hardcover, full color
Edition of 365
Published in Amsterdam, 2021
Price:
€35,00 (ex shipping)
About the Artist:


Lilia Luganskaia is a multidisciplinary artist and author. She graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 2014. Over the last 10 years, Lilia developed her artistic practice and built experience as a gallery curator and educator. Her book ‘Investigation of Love’, an attempt to encounter love through photographic evidence, was awarded internationally. In her artistic practice, Lilia uses her background in documentary techniques to focus on what she calls ‘investigating reality’. She decodes abstract notions as love, tourism, bureaucracy, politics, feminism through the use of constructed images, sculptures, video, and installations. One of the key elements of her work is to understand multiple aspects of the photographic image.