My Heart on The Block

Cor Meum

COULD the moody botanical artwork a Gisborne couple hung on their wall in TV reality show The Block have secured a win for Stu Watts and Amy Moore in the TV reality show’s first challenge? We’ll never know — but having been allocated the do-up theme of “moody botanical” Gisborne florist Holly Tong and photographer Runa Kuru’s piece, Cor Meum, (pictured) fully met the brief.

Tong and Kuru’s work is inspired by the atmospheric and hyper-real still life genre of painting that emerged during the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance in the 16th Century. Composed largely of an arrangement of roses, peonies, lupin and strawflower that almost merge with blackness, the title of the work that arguably landed Watts and Moore the win translates to My Heart.

Having won the first challenge Watts and Moore took Cor Meum with them to their new place. Moore had her eye on the duo’s work for some time, says Tong.

“I’m guessing once they received their brief ‘moody botanical’ it fitted right in. Funnily enough, a week before the show went to air, a writer for Fairfax media wrote a piece along the lines of what she would do with the themed rooms. For ‘moody botanical’ she had one of our prints too. It was the perfect fit I guess.”