The Power of Trees: new art exhibition at Kew Gardens uncovers the secrets of the forest

New exhibition in Kew’s art gallery highlights spectacular trees and their artistic resonance
First artistic collaboration with the Bedgebury Florilegium Society sees 20 newly commissioned botanical artworks displayed
Exhibition also includes Horizontal – Vaakasuora by Eija-Liisa Ahtila, eight channel projected installation, displayed alongside never-before-seen drawings
Gallery entry free with Kew Gardens admission
£1 Universal Credit ticket and £9 young person's ticket available

Announced today, a new exhibition at Kew Gardens’ Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art showcases the spectacle of trees and celebrates their resonance as a source of artistic inspiration across cultures and generations. Opening in April 2025, The Power of Trees will feature a variety of works, from painstakingly painted botanical artworks, to an innovative video installation which transports visitors to a mystical boreal forest. The exhibition will also illuminate the personal connections between artists and trees, and will showcase how depicting nature through different artforms can help us to connect more deeply with the world around us.

Receiving their world premiere as part of the exhibition will be 20 newly commissioned botanical artworks created by the artists of the Bedgebury Florilegium Society. Located in Kent, Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest was developed through a pioneering partnership with the Forestry Commission and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew following the end of the First World War. William Dallimore (who started work at Kew Gardens as a student gardener in 1891 before being appointed as assistant curator and eventually Keeper of the Museums) was instrumental in the planning of the National Pinetum at Bedgebury. After noticing that years of increasing industrial pollution in London was found to be adversely impacting the growth of the trees, Dallimore went in search of a better environment to house Kew’s conifer collection. With varied topography and a mixture of soil types, Bedgebury proved to be ideal, and the first planting of trees grown at Kew took place there in 1925.

Today, the National Pinetum is celebrating 100 years and is home to a world-leading collection of conifers containing nearly 12,000 specimen trees. To celebrate the centenary of the first planting, 20 of these trees have been selected as the subjects of botanical artworks by the Bedgebury Florilegium Society which will receive their world premiere as part of The Power of Trees.

Not only are these works visually beautiful, they also provide a vital record for the National Pinetum, with the group creating botanically accurate drawings of trees and plants from living samples across the seasons. The work of the Florilegium Society continues a centuries-old tradition of recording the natural world which enriches our understanding of plants and interpreting nature, as well as aiding botanical identification and the description of species. Alongside the artworks, visitors will also be able to learn more about the connections between Kew and Bedgebury through a selection of archive materials including diaries and letters which will be on public display for the first time.

In parallel to these botanical artworks, The Power of Trees will also showcase a spectacular cinematic installation from Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila. Spanning six vertical screens, 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. This high-definition depiction explores how to show the scale, history and complexity of a towering tree in its entirety, whilst simultaneously containing and presenting it through perhaps the most ubiquitous mechanism of modern human existence- the screen. Alongside the video installation, visitors will also be able to see a selection of Ahtila’s preparatory and parallel board drawings, titled ANTHROPOMORPHIC EXERCISES IN FILM, in which she applies cinematic grammar to a non-human subject, receiving their UK premiere as part of this new exhibition at Kew Gardens.

Artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila says: “The process of creating Horizontal – Vaakasuora was a truly inspirational one, and connecting with this remarkable tree afforded me a magical opportunity to immerse myself in nature and to witness the existential challenges which the world around us is facing firsthand. Using the traditionally human-dominated medium of film to tell this story allowed me to explore all this tree must endure to survive, as well as its role as a living, breathing part of the ecosystem. I’m delighted that visitors can encounter the artwork as they visit Kew Gardens, and hope that they can find time reflect on the resilience of the trees we so often overlook.”

Dan Luscombe, Curator of Forestry England’s Bedgebury Pinetum, says: “Bringing these incredible artworks by the Bedgebury Florilegium Society to Kew Gardens in 2025 is a wonderfully fitting way to celebrate the National Pinetum’s centenary and the close connections forged between the two organisations. It’s truly inspiring to work with the Florilegium and see their enthusiasm for Bedgebury’s remarkable trees. Their artwork is an invaluable asset in allowing us all to better understand and appreciate the plants and trees around us, and I’m delighted that visitors to Kew Gardens will be able to see their remarkable work as part of The Power of Trees.”

Maria Devaney, Galleries and Exhibition Leader at RBG Kew adds: “Trees in all of their spectacular forms have long been a source of inspiration for artists, so it’s wonderful to be able to examine and celebrate this connection with this new exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. From the intricate skill of the Bedgebury Florilegium to the all-encompassing video installation of Eija-Liisa Ahtila, it’s clear that trees provoke a huge array of artistic responses, and I can’t think of a better place to celebrate their spectacular power than at Kew Gardens amongst our incredible 11,000 strong collection.”

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

Admission to the exhibition is 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.

Image credits: Horizontal. © Koen de Waal / Crystal Eye. Courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris, London | Pinus Sylvestris © Margaret Booker

Notes to Editors

About the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding collections and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation, and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew’s scientists and partners lead the way in the fight against biodiversity loss and finding nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, aided by five key scientific priorities outlined in Kew’s Science Strategy 2021-2025. Kew Gardens is also a major international and top London visitor attraction. Kew’s 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, and Wakehurst, Kew’s Wild Botanic Garden and ‘living laboratory’, attract over 2.5 million visits every year. Kew Gardens was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and celebrated its 260th anniversary in 2019. 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 received approximately one third of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needs to support RBG Kew’s vital scientific and educational work comes from donors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. For tickets, please visit www.kew.org/kew-gardens/visit-kew-gardens/tickets. In the first six months 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.

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 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 Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland
The Finnish Institute supports the internationalisation of Finnish contemporary art and helps artists, researchers, as well as, social and cultural actors create international networks. Founded in 1991, it is a non-profit, private foundation funded by The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. https://www.fininst.uk

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.