Inspired by the majestic bouquets, corsages and centrepieces arranged by their florist roommate and friend, London-based director Federico Barni and John Alexander Lowe, a colorist and filmmaker, conceived Ontogeny. “This is an experimental nature film that is also a visual meditation on the floral form,” says Barni. “Flowers speak to us on a multitude of levels. By portraying them as part of a biological conversation between color and shape we were able to show them as individual lifeforms.”

This darkly idyllic film uses in-camera techniques, water and light to manipulate the representation of botanical structures—sinking the viewer into a parallel world solely inhabited by plants. 

“The film’s digital diffractions are juxtaposed with flashes of regular footage that reveals flowers as beautiful, if not mundane, everyday ornaments,” says the director. “These techniques helped us question the tensions that exist in our depiction of the organic.”