Dr Rebekka Kill United Kingdom

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My practice has shifted from painting, writing and performance towards floristry and illustration. I work across domestic, commercial and artistic contexts, often moving between commissioned illustration, floral installation, temporary sculptural arrangements and more conceptual creative enquiry.

I find myself working in spaces that sit between art, craft and design rather than comfortably inside any single category.

What I sense my practice knows, but what I have not yet fully articulated, is that floristry operates as a serious form of visual and spatial thinking, despite rarely being recognised as such. Floristry is often dismissed as decorative craft or commercial labour and therefore positioned beyond the boundaries of contemporary art practice. Yet it requires many of the same skills I previously used in painting and performance: composition, colour theory, spatial awareness, storytelling, intuition, curiosity and meaning making. Working with flowers involves constructing temporary sculptural forms, wearable art and responding to colour, texture, space, form, balance and ephemera.

I am increasingly interested in why illustration is granted greater cultural legitimacy while floristry remains associated with femininity, domesticity and service. My practice seems to be producing an ongoing critique of how creative labour is valued and categorised. Rather than seeing divisions between fine art, design and applied practice, I experience them as interconnected forms of material and visual communication.