AN art exhibition inspired by a the discovery of a tourist souvenir album of postcards and pressed flowers in a charity shop is to open today in Belfast.
Artist John Baucher (55), who lives in east Belfast, has spent the last three years creating work for his 'Flowers from the East' exhibition.
It comes after he drew inspiration from a book he found in a charity shop around eight years ago, entitled 'Flowers from the Holy Land'.
Dating back to 1924, it features images of Jerusalem during that period with scenic postcard views and pressed flowers arrangements contained inside it.
The city views of Jerusalem in the book are "contrasted or complimented with flora, the urban side by side with nature".
The charity shop find prompted Mr Baucher, who lived in Jerusalem around 30 years ago, to begin to explore ways to display flowers and photographs around Belfast.
For three years, he has been documenting flowers growing up from the cracks of urban spaces around the Ballymacarrett area, which he describes as a "celebration of the mundane and the overlooked".
Mr Baucher said they "signify resilience and the circle of life, despite being sprayed annually with pesticides, they still persist".
The exhibition is also described a tribute to Mr Baucher's "neighbourhood and a challenge for its future".
"What I want to get across in the exhibition is that flowers still persist, no matter what - the resilience they have is a message for us all in life."
The exhibition had been due to open in March, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
'Flowers from the East' opens today in the PS2 studio in Rosemary Street in Belfast. It will also be open tomorrow and from Tuesday through to Friday.
