“In Lieu of Flowers” is her ongoing series of botanical photographs, especially dedicated to the son she lost in the summer of 2020.
Because he died during COVID, there was no funeral, nowhere to display flowers—only his cremains returned in a box.
More broadly, these images are also for all those like her who have suffered the loss of a loved one.
A year after her son’s death, she decided to honor him through her art-making. This project began spontaneously as she began photographing flora—mostly from her own garden—and experimenting to find the right elements to successfully combine into a single digital image.
With this memorial project, she brings together her long-standing fascination with layers, abstraction, ambiguity, and the natural world. Working with floral material, she digitally fuses a selection of photographs from her archive—sometimes including cameraless, alternative process images she creates, such as cyanotypes, anthotypes, and lumen prints—and unites them into a composite image printed on paper or semi-translucent vellum.
She mostly prints her images on vellum, which she then hand-gilds on the reverse with gold- or silver-toned metallic leaf, creating a shimmering effect reminiscent of sacred art. Varnishing both sides of the archival print helps preserve and protect it. Arranging and layering the images, varying the scale, and selecting the right shapes and colors allow her to create an unexpected digital-analog reality.
By naming each image after a departed individual, she honors them and offers comfort to their loved ones. Making this work—an exploration of memory, loss, and love—has been healing for her and is intended to help heal others. These are the flowers she was not able to send.
About Laurie Peek
Laurie Peek (1949–) is a United States-based, award-winning visual artist with over twenty-five years of experience creating images. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the Visual Studies Workshop at the University at Buffalo, New York, and has worked as a photo educator, photo librarian, photojournalist, and fine artist.
After holding a staff position at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, where she immersed herself in its extensive photography library, Peek transitioned from being a photography teacher in Washington, DC to working as a librarian at Bettmann Archive (now part of Getty Images) and Sygma Photo News in New York City. She later worked as a reporter and photojournalist for publications including The Village Voice, The Brooklyn Paper, City Limits, and The Progressive, among others.
She then became a staff photographer for New York City’s Department of General Services, documenting its properties, gardens, and Ed Koch. After a second career in selling and marketing creative services to corporations, she worked as an arts administrator for the Art Students League of New York’s Vytlacil residency program in Sparkill, New York. Over a decade ago, she returned full-time to her primary passion: photography.
Peek’s work has been widely exhibited across the United States and internationally. In addition to numerous solo and group exhibitions, she has been named “International Garden Photographer of the Year” three times, in 2026, 2025, and 2022, at the Kew Gardens and Cambridge University Botanic Garden in the United Kingdom. She was a finalist in Critical Mass 2023 by Photolucida and in Fresh 2024 by Klompching Gallery. For over ten years, she has been selected for the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards at FotoNostrum Gallery in Barcelona.
Her work has been reviewed and published in publications including Afterimage, Dek Unu Magazine, Dodho Magazine, FotoNostrum, Artdoc Photography Magazine, Fraction Magazine, A Photo Editor, Lenscratch, and The Photo Review.
Her photographs are included in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Paterson Museum, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Center Santa Fe, and Visual Studies Workshop, as well as in the private collections of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Paula Tognarelli. [Official Website]
