A Year In Bloom is an A3 linoprint by East London based printmaker Bethany Clarke, created as a gift to the Birth Centre at Homerton Hospital. Donated in November 2025, the print was made as a gesture of thanks for the care and support Clarke received before, during, and after the birth of her daughter in 2024. Displayed within the birthing rooms themselves, the work holds both personal significance and wider emotional resonance.
The project began when the birth centre put out a call for art donations to help decorate their spaces. For Clarke, the invitation arrived at exactly the right moment. More than a year after giving birth, the idea of contributing a piece felt like a meaningful way to acknowledge the role the centre played during a pivotal period of her life.
“I knew straight away that this was how I wanted to say thank you,” Clarke says. “The birth centre had held so much care and calm during a time when everything felt new and overwhelming.”
The composition of A Year In Bloom is built from the British birth flowers associated with each month of the year. Arranged as a single, cohesive image, the flowers function both symbolically and structurally. While the work was created with the birth suite in mind, its meaning extends far beyond that setting.
“Although the print was made for the birth centre, it became about more than that,” Clarke explains. “It represents the people we hold close, those we’ve lost, and those who have yet to enter our lives.”
The piece is offered as an open edition and is available in three colourways: metallic gold on white Awagami Hosho Select with torn edges, matte yellow on Printmakers Kent paper, and metallic silver on Daler Rowney black paper. Each variation subtly shifts the tone of the work while preserving its softness and sense of reverence.
Clarke’s process began with hand drawn sketches, carefully refining the arrangement before carving the lino block. The slow, physical nature of linocutting plays an important role in her practice, allowing space for reflection and intention to build into the final image.
“There is something grounding about carving flowers by hand,” she notes. “It gives you time to sit with what they represent and who they are for.”
The first edition delivered to Homerton Hospital now hangs in a place filled with anticipation, vulnerability, and care. Knowing the work exists within that environment has been deeply meaningful for Clarke.
“It fills me with joy knowing the print lives somewhere that holds so much emotion and significance for so many people,” she says.
Bethany Clarke is an emerging printmaker and the founder of Floral Recall. Her work is rooted in nostalgia, sentiment, and memory, drawing heavily on the symbolism found in flora and fauna. Through printmaking, she explores the emotional relationships people form with nature, creating pieces that feel intimate, timeless, and personal. Each work invites viewers to bring their own stories and associations, using flowers as a shared visual language for connection and remembrance.
A Year In Bloom stands as a quiet act of gratitude and care. Through its considered symbolism and handcrafted process, the print offers a moment of reflection in a space where beginnings, endings, and transformation are deeply felt.
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