In the Gardens of the Queen connects two very different places through a shared name. Jardines de la Reina—“Gardens of the Queen”—is an area of coral reefs and marine life off southern Cuba. It is connected in my mind with the waters near the Bay of Pigs, where I have spent a great deal of time diving. The small crab within the composition refers to this submerged garden and to my own experience of it.

The flowers were photographed in the Walled Garden at Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s home on the Isle of Wight. The garden has a strong sense of continuity, with flowers blooming much as they did more than a century ago. In 2024, the peonies were exceptional, opening in dense layers of pink, ivory and pale gold.

The work brings these blooms together with climbing vines and wildflowers in a composition untethered from a single moment. During Queen Victoria’s reign, similar flowers would have been cut from the garden and arranged inside Osborne House. Here, the garden associated with one queen is quietly interwoven with the underwater world named for another. Both are places of intricate natural life, continuing beyond the limits of a single season or generation.