Artist Statement // Marigolds in the river

Kali Rabaut is a botanical artist in Tampa, Florida who draws inspiration from her organic cut flower garden. Marigolds in the River is a public art piece that was conceived after she noticed a large, empty vessel that had washed up on the shore of the Hillsborough River after back-to-back hurricanes. As LA burned, the latest manifestation of the climate crisis, she was called to ground her ballooning climate anxiety in the vessel. She chose marigolds—a loud, fiery, resilient bloom—and let them stand out against the blue, muddied waters of the river before the incoming tide engulfed the piece.

This public art floral installation took place in the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida, on January 12, 2025.

This large, empty vessel washed up after Hurricane Milton/Helene and was only visible at low tide. I would pass it every day on my morning walks along the Hillsborough River, and felt immediately drawn to it. I ached to put flowers inside for some inexplicable reason. I suppose it’s the same reason a painter feels called to the blank canvas, or the writer to the blank page. Sometimes I could see the vessel, and sometimes I couldn’t. Its visibility depended on a force outside of me- the tides. Even if I couldn’t see it, I wondered about it, waiting there under water. How big was it? Where did it come from? What kind of flowers would I put in there?

The ideation of this piece took place during the LA wildfires, while we were also grappling with a climate change denier headed once again to the White House. The feeling of being untethered was ballooning within me, and the sight of a heavy, unmovable vessel appealed to me.

Marigolds are not afraid to be loud. They are resilient, they can grow all over the world. They don’t require a ton of water, they like warm temps, and they burn bright. I hoped the giant gold marigolds would make a bold statement against the blue-brown waters of the Hillsborough River, which haven’t looked the same since the pollution brought on by two hurricanes.

The marigolds burned bright like the LA fires. While the tide rolled out and in, revealing what was once hidden. We are called in this moment to create. Though greater forces may cover up what is already there, we are being called to burn bright like the marigolds.

At the same time, this piece is retrospectively about creativity. The blank page, the fresh roll of film, the empty vase. How it calls to us. Pulls us in with an invisible force like the tides. I thought it was about the flowers and the vessel. But it turns out the art also happened before and after the piece. I delighted in watching people stop and stare, wondering aloud at how the flowers got there. It was mesmerizing to see how the water transformed the arrangement into a buoy of flowers. I loved how the amaranth undulated with the gentle waves like seaweed, or like a grainy magenta eel.

I thought the art was the flowers, but it turns out it was my kids running up and down the dock, grabbing more and more flowers from my bike to deconstruct and throw into the water like confetti. I thought the art was the floral arrangement, but it was my friend, Katelyn, who is an amazing photographer and documented these moments, as we sat side by side and watched the tide roll in. Marveling together at the change of pace, to live just in this moment. To sit in the time of tides and moons. Rather than human constructed timelines of deadlines and calendars. I thought art took place on the page and the canvas, but this piece reminded me that we’re creating our lives, blooming into every moment. Like the petals of a marigold.