Temple of Flowers / Tempio di Fiori, Austin Young, 2025

February 14, 2025 - September, 2026
Chiostro del Bramante, Rome

A new artwork commissioned by Chiostro de Bramante for the exhibition FLOWERS. Temple of Flowers is a site specific artwork by Austin Young. Original photographs by the artist, images found in various archives, printed fabric, vinyl, dimensions variable. Sixteen arches encircle the courtyard, each one a portal-transformed through flowers, color, and light.

“This artwork is located in the central courtyard of Chiostro del Bramante, a Renaissance cloister completed in 1504 as part of Santa Maria della Pace in the center of Rome, a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Originally, this space served as a place of reflection and daily prayer for priests who lived in community. The architecture was designed to enhance acoustics, allowing for prayers and sacred chants to resonate. Inspired by the site’s history and architectural design, this site-specific artwork reimagines the courtyard as a contemporary temple to the divine feminine. It invites visitors to engage in quiet contemplation and connection—both with themselves and with the sacred, fostering a shared spiritual experience.” - Austin Young

In Tempio di Fiori (Piccolo Paradiso), Austin Young transforms the historic courtyard of Chiostro del Bramante into a living sanctuary - a ritual space for beauty, nature, and resistance. This site-specific installation draws from ancient Roman botanical texts, devotional flower symbolism, and the artist’s own photographic archive to investigate how nature, femininity, and spirituality have been idealized, othered, and systematically marginalized.
Through immersive floral imagery and the recentering of the divine feminine, the work invites viewers to reconsider what constitutes sacred space. Tempio di Fiori is a quiet yet radical act - an offering of care, memory, and reclamation. Sixteen arches encircle the courtyard, each one a portal-transformed through flowers, color, and light.