Till Cremer

Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

Artist statement

Élan Vital or the Self-Organization of All That Lives “Blütenporträts” (Bloom Portraits) Since 2021, inspired by a profound experience of being touched, a sense of connectedness within nature, I have been working on a series of life-size photomontages under the working title “Blütenporträts” (Bloom Portraits). The works depict the floral peaks of various landscapes and examine what effect these flowering plant worlds have on humans and what influence humans have on these spheres. My aim is to use photographic field research and collage to precisely portray the bloom of each landscape and give its impact – its élan vital – a space for perception, or, as Karl Blossfeldt once put it, “to help restore the connection with nature.” The digital photomontages consist of numerous systematic single shots of flowering plants from a place or region. I take these photographs carefully at the plants’ location, without cutting them, in diffused daylight against a black background using a gray card and a reference object for size. My goal is to capture as many flowering plant species as possible for each Blütenporträt. In their entirety, the individual motifs, displayed in their actual size and natural colors, reveal the spectrum of blossoms – the bloom – of their landscape within a specific period of time. I create the image compositions, which trace the respective vegetation, by screening the edited photographs and highlighting selected flowers through superimposition. In the long term,...

Artwork