Flowers

Flowers in Within the Wires are often used in conjunction with certain characters.

## Specific flowers

### Orchids

In a visualisation exercise, Hester described a pink orchid decorating a dinner table, next to a candle and a bottle of wine. She had misinterpreted the scene, a dinner between secret sisters, as a date, and became preoccupied by the "yonic imagery" of the candle and the orchid. Hester's favourite artist, Georgia O'Keefe, also painted orchids.

Claudia Atieno's first painting to gain international critical acclaim was 'Still Life with Orchid' (1962). The orchid was pink with withering leaves, and the stalk was very thin. Many critics interpreted the painting to be about the unavoidable presence of death, which was not Atieno's intention, who preferred to think of it as a representation of the cycles of life, both seen and unseen.

When sent to purchase a birthday flower for his boss's boss, Michael Witten spoke to florist Vivienne Torrance, who suggested an orchid for its simple divinity.

### Lavender

When Oleta was admitted to the Institute, she was wearing a lavender-coloured t-shirt. The Community Garden smelled of lavender, and the bushes were located around the west corner, near a stone bench past a fountain. The smell was one of the hallmarks Hester gave to Oleta in order to help her navigate through the Institute without sight.

### Horopito

Roimata Mangakāhia had a series of artworks called "Horopito" late in her career, which was based on mountain shrubs near her home, a cottage by the sea. She painted dozens of horopito shrubs, some before her hiatus which were shown in galleries, and many after. 'Horopito #2' was near photorealism, showing a hard-leafed plant with perfect circles eaten from two leaves by insects. The green lines become violet, then pink, then orange, then mauve. Roimata said in 1981 that, "When you are busy examining the flower in front of you, it is hard to see the mountains in the distance."

Mangakāhia's 'Mountain Horopito #4' hung above the mantelpiece in Hester Wells' home, when Oleta woke up in her own cottage by the sea. Opposite the fireplace was a sofa, where Hester had often sat and viewed the painting. In 1986, 'Horopito #2' was displayed in the reopened Karikari Contemporary Gallery, curated by Hester.

### Yellow carnations

Claudia Atieno's 'Needlework' featured in the Small Items/Big Picture exhibit showed a simple arrangement of yellow carnations. She had dyed pieces of the thread to create depth of colour, and created small dots of blue and pink in the green leaves, in an impressionist style. Roimata believed that Claudia had learned the needlepoint technique from observing her own, and felt this work far outclassed her simple pastime. Carnations were also among the flowers Vivienne Torrance recommended to Michael Witten.

### Yellow lilacs

Vivienne Torrance's favourite flower was a yellow lilac, and she had one pinned to her front pocket when they met. They were a rare flower, and she grew them herself in her own garden. According to Michael, it smelled of burnt butter, black pepper, and molasses, overtaking the scent of roses in the flower shop. He bought a bunch for his boss's boss's birthday, the errand he had been sent on.

In July 1953, Michael sent Amy to buy yellow lilacs for Vivienne, which he gave her every week. A flower-vase in their home kept the flowers regularly, but in March 1954 he lamented that she had stopped noticing the smell, and he ought to get better at giving gifts. When she became more interested in art and performance than flowers, he missed the smell of lilacs. The frame of the painting Bernice Jones commissioned for Vivienne was hand-carved with lilacs.

### Tansies

On 29 October, 1973, Clíodhna Byrne saw spring flowers, buttonweeds or tansies, blooming in the garden of Gráinne Lynch's house, despite the time of year. They were surrounded by damselflies, though she thought at first they were faeries. On the night of the 30th, Clíodhna dreamt of a young boy from an old photograph, holding tansies with damselflies flying around his head.

### Peonies

In 1955, a few months after they were married, Teresa Moyo remarked that she was unfurling herself like a peony for her wife, Miriam Gregory, to discover, so that she would learn something new about her every day for the rest of time. Miriam commented that she had always loved peonies. In her reimagined proposal to Teresa, Miriam thought their tour of the city would have ended with them on the roof terrace of their home, surrounded by peonies.

### Roses

Before correcting herself to peonies, Miriam imagined that the flowers around them during her proposal would be roses. While speaking with investors and supporters, Rosemary gave tours which included the Institute's rose-garden. Later on, the flowers decorating Teresa's surprise dinner - that was ruined by Miriam's late-night investigation into Rosemary's activities - were roses.

Ballinroche was once renowned for its wild roses. In an old folk tale related by Clíodhna, a young girl behaved strangely, often dancing to music that no one else could hear or saying things that didn't make sense. She would sometimes talk about going for a walk through a rose garden where there was no rose garden.

In 2005, in memory of her late wife Rose Torres, Elena Jiménez started growing roses in the garden behind their house in Palo Duro.

## Other flowers

The name "Chunhua" means "spring flower" in Chinese with the characters 春 (spring) and 花 (flower).

Earlier in Elena's Palo Duro tape, she told Anita that she did not need to bring flowers to her and Rose's memorial plaque. She expressed a hope that she and Rose were together "somewhere flowers can’t reach us."

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Season 1, Episode #5: Focus, Nose
2. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #6: for Oleta
3. ↑ Season 2, Cassette #1: Tate Modern (1971)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Season 3, Reel #4: February 15, 1954
5. ↑ Season 1, Cassette #3: Insomnia, Feet
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Season 1, Cassette #10: Horopito
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Season 2, Cassette #10: Karikari Contemporary Gallery (1986)
8. ↑ Season 2, Cassette #9: Metropolitan Museum of Art (1981)
9. ↑ Season 2, Cassette #6: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1978)
10. ↑ Season 3, Reel #1: July 1953
11. ↑ Season 3, Reel #6: March 24, 1954
12. ↑ Season 3, Reel #10: June 21, 1961
13. ↑ Season 6, Episode #8: Monday 29 October, 1973
14. ↑ Season 6, Episode #10: Samhain
15. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.229
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.231
17. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.294
18. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.302
19. ↑ Season 6, Episode #7: Sunday 28 October 1973
20. ↑ Season 6, Episode #6: Saturday 27 October 1973
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Season 7, Episode #10: Palo Duro