Sarah Khan Event Styling - SECOND FLOOR KEY ROOM MURAL OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, BY H. SIDDONS MOWBRAY, 1909

Photographed by Rudney Novaes Photography

Florist’s inspiration: Looking at the image I wanted to tell the story of the mural through the floral material in the form of a tree.  At the base of the tree, we have we have different dried grasses and raw cotton among thorns, symbolic of the cotton fields and plantations in the South. The backs of the raw cotton was painted gold and was nestled into the “dry, arid” looking grasses. The gold was to represent the value of the field was in the cotton itself not valuing the individuals that harvest it, without the enslaved labor there would be no industry. 

As you move up into the tree you see the top of the tree filled with lush greens to represent renewal and life as you see in the springtime. Bleached fern and amaranthus with spurts of gold Italian ruscus used in pockets to represent the Anderson’s ancestors and their angel wings who are depicted as aiding in the “fight” for freedom and worked towards the abolition of the slavery. 

As the artist I decided to continue the cotton through the tops of the tree as well, because despite the efforts to free the enslaved, equality for them since the time of the civil war is a completely different battle that is to this day a systemic disease deeply rooted in all facets of American life. The red chiffon sash at the base of the tree is used to represent the Anderson’s relative with the shield.  

Recipe: Raw cotton, ruskus, amaranthus. The base of the ground will be done with stone with a lush garden growing to represent the earth being rich with goodness to support them on their endeavor.

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