I HIDE MYSELF WITHIN MY FLOWER (2024-Present)

A black handkerchief in your left back pocket means you possess an interest in heavy S&M as a top. Gray is for bondage, purple for piercing, yellow watersports. Where you place the hanky denotes whether you’d like to give or receive. This extensive code of colors and placements came about in the 1970s so that queer people could signal their proclivities to those in the know. The precise origin of the code is up for debate, but the meanings we know now began to be codified in New York and San Francisco in the 1970s amongst gay men. Now individuals of all genders use it, and it’s only grown more elaborate, enabling queers to flag their often very specific interests when out in a bar or club, without having to speak a word aloud. The resurgence of hanky code amongst young queers inspired this body of work, messages crafted using floral code, a secret language that has been used for centuries, but solidified and common during Victorian times. 

Queers throughout history have been creative with their messaging, from Anne Lister’s coded diaries about sexual encounters with women to Oscar Wilde’s green carnations. Emily Dickinson wrote often about flowers and longing, linking the two. Messages concealed from outsiders, from straight folks who see just a bandana in a pocket, or nothing at all. A rose is a rose is a rose, unless it’s a love letter from my queer heart to yours.