Perspective: Buds of Hope A personal photo project connects how life imitates flowers

An ongoing photo project on the life cycle of flowers is also a teaching moment about life and art. Photographer Yuri Dojc takes us on a tour, in his own words

IN 1968, FOLLOWING THE SOVIET INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA, Yuri Dojc, then 22, moved to Toronto and embarked on a storied photography career. Now 75, his work has been shown in the National Gallery of Canada and the U.S. Library of Congress, among other cultural institutions around the world. For his 2009 series Last Folio, Dojc returned to his native Slovakia to document the towns and buildings ravaged by the Second World War, as well as the Holocaust survivors who remained; for 2017’s North is Freedom: The Legacy of the Underground Railroad, Dojc photographed descendants of slaves who escaped to Canada ahead of the Civil War. And in this collection from his virtual photo project Buds of Hope, Dojc says he uses flowers to create “a visual parable,” illustrating how “there is beauty in all the stages of a season from beginning to end.” The collection can be seen on his website, yuridojc.com —Mike Crisolago

YD: In the space of a single season, they go through a complete life cycle, from the wonder and exhilaration of birth to decay and the finality of death.

YD: The series is a visual parable. There is beauty in all the stages of a season from beginning to end. It is my hope that people come to realize that time may not always be on your side, but the ride is glorious all the way through.