Trained as a floral designer, Doan Ly took up photography in order to promote her creations. With over 180,000 followers on Instagram, the artist blends together still life, graphic and contemporary compositions, and surrealist floral portraits. Her colourful visual universe borrows from the great painters as well as the world of fashion, and stages bodies and plants with remarkable creativity. “I want to be caught off guard. I want to see anew. I want to experience a quiet moment that is larger than life. I want to learn something, but mostly, I want to share beauty and bring joy”, the artist told us in our latest issue. Find out who hides behind these botanical compositions, through her Chinese portrait!
If you were…
One of your pictures?
My self-portrait under a brugmansia tree.
A dream photoshoot?
Of my friends while traveling.
An object or a setting to photograph?
So obvious, but flowers. Or food. My team of assistants as models.
An Instagram account?
An anecdote?
The time I got my first acting part on TV, I got to set, dressed as a futuristic sex worker in the old Wild West and had no idea that my non-speaking role had a huge gun fight scene to film that day!
A colour?
Pastel.
A historical period?
Undergrad and graduate school days. Which I would love to redo.
An emotion?
Excitement.
An animal?
Pegasus.
A subject to explore?
Sisterhood and women’s bodies together.
A cultural place?
Bookstores
A piece of music?
Too embarrassing… I love cheesy music, especially with a sax solo!
© Doan Ly
