A potpourri of posts, about our adventures and experiences of the last few months whilst I’ve been a lax blogger.
November. A visit to London, to see family and a visit to Kew Botanical Gardens, always plenty to see and wonder at
What ever time of year we visit
however I wanted to make a beeline* to Rebecca Louise Law’s exhibition, Life in Death, its an installation, in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, right next to the fabulous paintings by Marianne North
It is created from thousand upon thousands of dried flowers, suspended on copper wire
We think of dried flowers as delicate and ephemeral, and the effect is all of that, but it is something more besides, there is something enduring too. I particularly loved the shadows of the flowers
It is immersive, a path winds through the garlands, people come in and out of view, now you see them now you don’t. I think I can see where the existential title comes from.
Given that flowers were, a long time ago, my world of work, I’ve been long aware of the importance many cultures place on flowers, in both life and death, so it was no surprise to read, where Law’s inspiration came from.
The exhibition Life in Death showcases her personal collection of plants and flowers, dried and preserved over a six year period. It is her most intricate large-scale artwork to date and examines our relationship with flowers and plants and how they are used, particularly through rituals.
Kew’s Herbarium specimens, including Egyptian garlands made with dried flowers dating back to 700BC, which inspired Rebecca to make this work, are also on display.
The Egyptian garlands made me think of Hawaiian lei (rubbish photo, sorry).
We then went on to wander in the Autumn sun,
I picked up a selection of fallen leaves, I had a little art project of my own in mind.
Now, if there is one thing that illustrates the the opposing, but complimentary mind-sets of Mr Uphilldowndale and I, it is that I picked up leaves because they were beautiful, he insisted we photograph them with the name of the tree from whence they came. Creative meets Engineer…
However, it was all to no avail, as the plan went a little pear shaped, when we left the bag of leaves in the cafe at Kew Gardens; I hope we didn’t cause a security incident… Sorry.
* Oh no I haven’t written about The Hive yet, I took those photos back in January…
Uphilldowndale 