The magnolia grandifora is known as the southern magnolia, an evergreen that can grow up to fifteen metres in subtropical climates. Its giant white flowers open in the mornings and close at nightfall for two to three days. When all the stamens shed, the flowers reopen before turning brown and disintegrating, leaving a conical seedpod containing large blood red seeds. When the pod opens, the seeds fall and hang by gossamer threads swinging like pendulums waiting for the elements to snap them...
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The magnolia grandifora is known as the southern magnolia, an evergreen that can grow up to fifteen metres in subtropical climates. Its giant white flowers open in the mornings and close at nightfall for two to three days. When all the stamens shed, the flowers reopen before turning brown and disintegrating, leaving a conical seedpod containing large blood red seeds. When the pod opens, the seeds fall and hang by gossamer threads swinging like pendulums waiting for the elements to snap them free. Some start a new life.

In May 2018, Taiwanese photographer Nana Chen returned to the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia where she spent part of an unhappy childhood. With the help of her producer friend, Janice McDonald, she retraced each place where she experienced trauma. Expecting it to be emotionally overbearing, she was surprised that each location rather brought about closure.

Thus, Chen began turning her camera towards the lush gardens and ethereal forests instead, capturing life thriving in the form of entangled vines and majestic southern magnolia trees adorned by giant blossoms that close when night falls. Magnolia is a collection of images celebrating life in the most unexpected places wherever the artist travels: Atlanta, Singapore, Bangkok and Saigon, where Chen is currently based.
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