Clamp is pleased to present My life as a flower, an exhibition of unique Polaroids produced by Dietmar Busse nearly twenty-five years ago, at the turn of the 21st century in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Coated from head to toe in matte, chalky pigments, Busse transforms his own body into a living canvas. Onto his skin he carefully pressed petals, blossoms, stems, and leaves, crafting self portraits that feel both fantastical and haunting. These images, rich with texture and fragility, suggest a deep intimacy with nature and a performative merging of subject and medium.

Busse assembles parts from a wide range of botanical species—anemone blossoms paired with carnation leaves on a stalk of aloe—to create impossible new blooms that exist solely within his imagination. Once complete, these fleeting arrangements are photographed before they vanish, emphasizing the ephemerality at the heart of the work.

Through this singular series, Busse collapses the boundaries between painting, sculpture, photography, and performance. His process foregrounds impermanence and transformation while quietly invoking our shared dependency on the natural world—an uneasy tether made more precarious in an age increasingly defined by technological acceleration and impending climate catastrophe.

My life as a flower coincides with an exhibition at Fierman of Busse’s camera-less chemical paintings as well as newer digital floral self portraits running from May 8 – June 22, 2025.