Final weeks to enjoy The Power of Trees and Of the Oak at Kew Gardens

Final weeks to soak up a summer of trees at Kew Gardens
Acclaimed collaboration with renowned artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast showcases the invisible magic of Kew’s Lucombe oak
The Power of Trees in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art celebrates spectacular trees and their artistic resonance
For families, Oaklore by Wild Rumpus explores the mighty oak tree
£1 Universal Credit ticket and £9 ticket for 16-29

Until 28 September, visitors to Kew Gardens can enjoy acclaimed interactive artwork, Of the Oak by Marshmallow Laser Feast, exploring the hidden life of the majestic Lucombe oak. Of the Oak is a 12-minute interactive video installation that takes viewers on a sensory journey across the transformation of Kew’s Lucombe oak across four seasons, unveiling the tree’s hidden vibrancy and intricate web of life.

The work is an invitation to witness the oak tree as a living monument of connection, a keystone in the web of life. Journeying into the hidden life within the oak’s form, audiences can peer beneath its bark and soil, revealing the usually unseen processes that sustain the tree. The installation also illuminates the oak’s sequestration of carbon dioxide through the mycelial network, and the release of life-giving oxygen into the atmosphere, as well as highlighting the interconnected web of over 2,300 species which are sustained within an oak tree’s ecosystem. The Lucombe oak is one of the oldest and most important trees at Kew Gardens; not only is it one of the oldest trees at Kew, but it’s also one of the oldest Lucombe oaks in existence - grown from a cutting of the original hybrid (Turkey oak x Cork oak) which spontaneously crossed at a nursery outside Exeter in 1762. Drawing inspiration from a tree which is over two centuries old, Of the Oak explores the invisible magic at work within each leaf, branch and root of this astonishing tree.

In the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, The Power of Trees runs until Sunday 14 September, featuring 20 newly commissioned botanical artworks created by the artists of the Bedgebury Pinetum Florilegium Society in celebration of the National Pinetum’s centenary. Alongside the artworks, visitors will are also able to learn more about the connections between Kew and Bedgebury through a selection of archive materials including diaries and letters which are on public display for the first time.

In parallel to these botanical artworks, The Power of Trees also showcases a spectacular cinematic installation from Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila; Horizontal – Vaakasuora is a critically-acclaimed cinematic portrait of a 30-metre spruce in the boreal forest of Finland, a tree which Ahtila has known all her life. Alongside the video installation, visitors are also able to see a selection of Ahtila’s preparatory and parallel board drawings, titled ANTHROPOMORPHIC EXERCISES ON FILM, receiving their UK premiere at Kew. This unique exhibition illuminates the personal connections between artists and trees, and showcases how depicting nature through different artforms can help us to connect more deeply with the world around us.

Alongside this, a new exhibition, Woodlands and Forests, continues in the Marianne North Gallery, showcasing the essential roles which trees play within their environments, and the ways humans have interacted with them. This collaborative exhibition showcases specimens and objects from across the Herbarium, Fungarium, and Economic Botany Collections. Until 31 August, younger visitors can step into an adventure of making and exploring, living out exciting stories and creating memories together, diving into the wonder of the oak tree with Oaklore.

At the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, we’re dedicated to harnessing the power of plants and fungi to end the extinction crisis and secure a future for all life on Earth. With Kew’s world-leading research, global partnerships and beloved gardens
– home to the world’s most diverse collections of plants and fungi – we’re using our trusted voice to shape policy and
practice worldwide. As a charity we rely on the critical support of our visitors, not only to sustain the gardens, but to protect global plant and fungal biodiversity for the benefit of our planet and humanity.

ENDS

Image credits: Of the Oak by Marshmallow Laser Feast © RBG Kew. Horizontal- Vaakkasuora by Eija-Liisa Ahtila © RBG Kew. Gingko biloba by Susan Conroy © Susan Conroy.

Included in a ticket to Kew Gardens. Pre-booking online offers the best value visit.

For more information or images, please contact the Press Office at pr@kew.org.

Notes to Editors

About the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific and horticultural institution and conservation charity, whose mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the wellbeing of people and the future of all life on Earth. It is internationally respected for its outstanding collections, horticultural and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew Gardens, with its 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, is also a major attraction for international and London visitors alike. Dating back to 1759, the site has a rich history and was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003. Combined visitor numbers with Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex, total over 2.5 million per year. Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world and a safeguard against the disastrous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. RBG Kew receives approximately one third of its funding from the UK Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils, with the remaining two thirds coming from supporters, sponsors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. This enables RBG Kew to carry out its vital scientific and educational work. For tickets and membership options, please visit our website. Since implementing a new accessibility scheme for those in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits, Kew has welcomed over 100,000 visitors with £1 tickets across both UK sites.

About Marshmallow Laser Feast

Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) is an experiential artist collective. They believe in the power of stories to tickle senses and shift perceptions. Their work takes people on a multisensory journey to where imagination and information collide.

From coders to poets, chemists to ventriloquists, brands to institutions, MLF collaborate with specialists in all disciplines. To explore new forms of culture, interrogate our relationship with the world around us and leave a glittery slug trail as we journey through the cosmos.

MLF tell stories that untangle, entangle and flavour our reality, blurring the lines between art, immersive experiences, XR and film. Alive in galleries, museums, public spaces, parks, nature reserves and the metaverse, their work is grounded in research. Designed to carve out space to expose, explore and expand our relationship with the living world.

MLF has exhibited internationally at institutions including; ACMI, Somerset House, Barbican Centre, YCAM, DDB Seoul, Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Factory International, Quartier des Spectacles, Montreal, SXSW, Saatchi Gallery and Lisbon Architectural Triennale.

Their work has been featured in renowned publications such as; the Guardian, New Scientist, Wired, Independent, Creative Review and more.

@marshmallowlaserfeast | Marshmallowlaserfeast.com

About Bedgebury Pinetum

Bedgebury National Pinetum is home to the largest pinetum in the world and it's important on a global scale for species conservation, scientific advancement and the understanding of conifers.

The mix of conifers and broadleaved specimens contained in 350 acres of rolling Wealden countryside is awe-inspiring in its size and grandeur. At the entrance to the pinetum, the visitor centre is situated beside the first of six lakes and ponds along the basin of Dallimore Valley. A series of paths wind through the valley, where you'll find an impressive stand of giant redwoods. The hillsides offer spectacular views of the tree collection and towards the northern boundary of the pinetum the iconic Marshal's Lake is surrounded by swamp cypress, which turn a glorious rusty red in autumn and deciduous dawn redwoods.

About the Bedgebury Pinteum Florilegium Society

An army of artists is volunteering their time to support the important work of Bedgebury, the National Pinetum, by creating botanically accurate drawings of the pinetum's trees and plants from living samples.The Bedgebury Pinetum Florilegium Society was formed in 2009 by founding member Pearl Bostock. Their work continues a tradition that dates back many centuries and is playing a crucial role in recording the tree and plant collections of botanic gardens around the world. The drawings and paintings are to scale where possible, with a scale bar added to the artwork to denote the actual size of the specimen painted.

About Forestry England

Forestry England manages and cares for the nation’s 1,500 woods and forests, with over 296 million visits per year. As England’s largest land manager, we shape landscapes and are enhancing forests for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and businesses to grow. For more information visit forestryengland.uk. Forestry England is an agency of the Forestry Commission.

About Eija-Liisa Ahtila

Eija-Liisa Ahtila (born 1959 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a contemporary visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Helsinki.

Ahtila is most known for her multi-panel cinematic installations. She experiments with narrative storytelling in her films and cinematic installations. In her earlier works, she dealt with the topic of unsettling human dramas at the center of personal relationships, dealing with teenage sexuality, family relationships, mental disintegration, and death. Her later works, however, pursue more profound artistic questions where she investigates the processes of perception and attribution of meaning, at times in the light of larger cultural and existential themes, like colonialism, faith and posthumanism.

Ahtila has participated in numerous international art exhibitions such as Manifesta (1998), the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2005), documenta 11 (2002), São Paulo Art Biennial (2008) and the Sydney Biennale in 2002 and 2018.

Ahtila has won several art and film awards, including the inaugural Vincent Award (2000), Artes Mundi (2006), Prince Eugen Medal (2008), and most recently Art Academic in Finland (2009).

Her work is held in the collections of the Tate and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She is a former professor at the Department of Time and Space-based Art at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts (Finland)

About the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art

Located at Kew Gardens in London, the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art is the world’s first display space dedicated solely to this genre. Since it was opened in 2008 by Sir David Attenborough, the gallery has held over 50 exhibitions, welcomed more than a million visitors, and become the hub of the worldwide renaissance of botanical art. Dr Shirley Sherwood OBE studied botany at Oxford University before starting the Shirley Sherwood Collection in 1990. Thirty years on, the Collection includes over 1,000 paintings and drawings, representing the work of over 300 contemporary botanical artists from 36 countries around the world. The collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has been a huge success, with the gallery showcasing a huge diversity of botanical art, raising the profile of the genre and the plants it portrays. Its walls have seen paintings by renowned artists such as Margaret Mee and Rory McEwen, and collections from Brazil, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and the USA. As well as displaying pieces from the Shirley Sherwood Collection, the gallery hosts a roster of genre-pushing exhibitions by independent artists. Recent examples include the intricate graphite drawings of the UK’s oldest oak trees by Mark Frith, an immersive installation by British artist Rebecca Louise Law, and sculptures by Dale Chihuly and David Nash. Recent artists on display in the gallery have included Jan Hendrix, Andrew Parker, Zadok Ben-David, Pip & Pop, Anila Quayyum Agha, Mat Collishaw and Marc Quinn.