Even though we often pretend to forget it, our lives and ourselves are destined to disappear or rather, to end. Finitude is our condition, and it is within this dimension that the concept of beauty makes sense.

When José Saramago hypothesizes the intermittency of death, it becomes evident that beauty recedes in the face of existential eternity.

Finitude calibrates our vulnerability and, at the same time, gives meaning to beauty, because the only weapon we have at our disposal to transcend fleetingness and ephemerality is the creation of beauty. Beauty also serves to guide us through difficulties, giving meaning to what we do.

The beauty we create in life constitutes the legacy we leave in the world, allowing us to continue existing in the hearts of some people, thus leaving an imprint that forms an infinitesimal fragment of the human universe.

Each of us is a living testament to this idea. Surely, each of us moves, decides, acts, chooses, and thinks, consciously or not, considering the legacy I mentioned before. This legacy is the sum of what people with universally known names in any human discipline have handed down to us, as well as the contributions of our friends, family, acquaintances, teachers, and colleagues in everyday life. It also includes the influence of perfect strangers we have encountered for a fleeting moment, those who have given us a gesture, a word, a look, something we have perceived and made our own.

All of this typically goes unnoticed in our lives, until something significant (often negative) happens, forcing us to pause, change, and question ourselves. At that point, what was previously invisible to our eyes becomes visible, and we learn to see differently. We broaden the horizon of our path, lose our fear of exploring the unknown, and begin to consider new possibilities. In other words, we finally cultivate our sensitivity and courage, aligning our experiences more closely with our emotions.

Since I was sixteen, I have been a devoted aquarist. In those transparent enclosures that I have cared for with commitment and love, I have become accustomed to witnessing both life and death. I have learned how innate the attachment to life is in living beings and how much beauty a creature releases throughout its existence. I have also learned to accept death and the dignity of suffering with resignation. Carrying this personal experience does not eliminate the fear of finitude, but it helps in accepting it and undeniably shapes personal growth.

As a visual artist, I have always wanted to explore these concepts. However, using fish as a subject to create a work that combines beauty and finitude is not the easiest approach. So, I shifted my gaze and photographic focus to flowers.

The life of a flower is brief, one day for a flower is roughly equivalent to ten human years. In them, finitude is palpable, yet at the same time, they are the most apotheotic expression of beauty. It is precisely through their beauty, combined with their awareness of the need for connection with others (in their case, with insects), that they manage to ensure the continuity of their species,existential eternity. Furthermore, from a photographic standpoint, they are technically much easier to handle than fish.

My “Ephemeral Flowers” embody beauty and finitude through digital compositions that blend parts of different dying flowers with fully vital ones and AI-generated flowers. This fusion attempts to enhance the vitality of being while simultaneously revealing its impermanence. I sought to recreate beauty from fragments of finiteness. To achieve the images that accompany and illustrate this article, I utilized every tool I have mastered in my creative process, everything at my disposal to bring to life the unique vision I have of beautiful flowers made of finitude.

If flowers did not make a constant effort to create beauty despite the brevity of their existence, they would inevitably be condemned to mediocrity and, consequently, to decadence leading to the slow but inevitable extinction of the plant species they represent and, indirectly, of the pollinating insects that rely on them for sustenance and, unknowingly, contribute to their and our survival.

With this series, I aim to make visible through the metaphor of flowers our own finiteness as human beings, which contrasts with our eternal longing and nostalgia for the infinite. Our existential journey is a continuous training in impermanence. If we accepted that nothing lasts forever, we would realize that we actually need very littleand it would be much easier for everyone to experience happiness.