Infectious Flowers, Orchid 2, 2005 (C-type print)

In Nature H'Abour, JK Huysman describes a wealthy collector and recluse who became obsessed with rare species of flowers. His pathology is emphatically illustrated when he starts to collect flowers that appear to be infected with tropical diseases. Collishaw took images of various skin infections and inflammation from dermatological book and grafted them onto photographs of flowers using a computer. The pictures also recalled the writings of Jean Genet's journals in prison when he describes his cellmate's wounds and pustules as embellishments. Like flowers or medals adorning a male jacket, the lines between beauty and repulsion become blurred.