travail famille patrie
Various sizes ~ 12” x 8”, 2025

Like everyone in the U.S., I’m searching for inspiration as we live through one of this country’s darkest chapters in over a century. Last year I learned how one of Christian Dior’s greatest triumphs – the unveiling of his first collection in February 1947, a watershed moment in fashion history – had been directly preceded by the most nightmarish events of his life. Not only had he just emerged from the soul-crushing Nazi occupation of France, but for nearly a year he was haunted by his inability to protect his beloved sister Catherine who had been imprisoned, tortured, and presumed dead in concentration camps because of her involvement with the French resistance. Catherine miraculously survived and lived to the age of 90. She devoted herself to flowers and fragrances, and was the inspiration for Macy’s Flower Show here in New York last year. I visited on the last day to take the photos and video you’ll see in this series over the next few weeks, when most of the flowers had begun to wilt but retained their beauty despite their imperfections. The title is the Vichy French replacement for “liberty, equality, fraternity”, translating to the very ominous (and increasingly familiar) “work, family, fatherland”. I made this series to remind myself of Dior’s indefatigable drive to create and push himself and his art forward in the worst possible circumstances.