Cig Harvey's "Poppies (Sinking), Rockport, Maine, 2020" captures the profound beauty and fragility of life through vibrant red and white poppy blooms suspended in dark water. The British-born photographer, who has made Maine her home, creates deeply personal work that finds magic in everyday moments.

The photograph presents a striking visual metaphor for mortality and transience. The brilliant scarlet poppies, traditionally symbols of both remembrance and sleep, float against the dark water's surface like fragile memories. Their tissue-thin petals appear luminous yet vulnerable, embodying the delicate balance between life and decay that characterizes Harvey's artistic vision.

Harvey's technique emphasizes her "intense relationship with colour and memory," using light as her primary language. The contrast between the vivid reds and the deep, reflective water creates a painterly quality that transforms a simple natural scene into something mystical. The single white poppy among the red blooms adds compositional tension and suggests themes of purity or departure.

This work belongs to Harvey's broader exploration of flowers as subjects that mirror human experience. Her Maine coastal environment profoundly influences her photography, making her "alert to the magic of the mundane." The sinking motion implied in the title suggests inevitability and the passage of time, while the flowers' continued beauty speaks to resilience.

The photograph serves as what Harvey calls "an urgent call to live" - a reminder to pause and appreciate fleeting moments of beauty. Through this intimate study of poppies in water, she invites viewers to contemplate their own relationship with time, memory, and the precious nature of everyday experiences.

Harvey's work transforms simple natural phenomena into philosophical meditation, encouraging deeper awareness of the cycles that connect human experience with the natural world.