"the way things are -- green with red"

2000

Scottish, born 1963

This photograph of the artist lying in a verdant swamp reenacts a painting that is an English icon—in fact the most popular postcard sold by the Tate Britain. It mirrors the character Ophelia, who after being rejected by Hamlet in a Shakespearean tragedy, falls into a river while picking flowers and slowly drowns, singing all the while. In the original, Millais selected an array of flowers, each for their strategic associations. Anya Gallaccio uses red roses as visual exclamation points, and exploits their potency as symbols of love—both found and lost.

Chromogenic print

118 1/8 x 39 3/8 in. (299.7 x 100cm)

Gift of Lehmann Maupin Gallery in honor of Lisa Corrin

2003.2

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Modern in America, July 8, 2004 - Feb. 27, 2005.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Fresh Impressionism, June 19 - Sept. 21, 2008.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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