Hyacinth bulbs, water, glass, disks, LED grow light, screenprint.
Florameter was part of the exhibition The Mourning After curated by Prof Larissa Hjorth at The Design Hub Gallery. In Florameter, I explore the intersection of botanical phenomena and human emotion through a dynamic installation that evolves throughout the exhibition. The work presents a circular arrangement of 200 hyacinth bulbs, forming a chromatic spectrum that blooms over time.
This living colour wheel reimagines Horace-Bénédict de Saussure’s 18th-century Cyanometer—a device designed to measure the “blueness” of the sky through subjective human perception. Where Saussure’s instrument attempted to quantify atmospheric qualities, Florameter offers a physical yet ever-changing scale through which visitors can calibrate their emotional responses to climatic uncertainty and collective grief.
The hyacinths are arranged to form a spectrum of colour, creating an aroma and visual manifestation of diversity and inclusivity that references the mythological relationship between Apollo and Hyacinthus—one of the earliest representations of queer love in Western mythology. This connection enriches the installation’s exploration of identity, visibility, and emotional expression, bridging ancient narratives with contemporary understandings of love, loss, and our changing world.
Free screenprinted posters were available for the public to take home, as were the bulbs finding ‘forever homes’ at the conclusion of the exhibition.
Heather Hesterman 