A NEW exhibition depicting the positive impact of plants on human well-being opened at a venue near Presteigne this month.
Plant Communitas, which runs from August 3 to September 30 at the Sidney Nolan Trust, features a community of artists from diverse practices and places.
The artists work locally, nationally and internationally and are united by their interests in human-plant relations.
For centuries, Western thinking has backgrounded the plant kingdom. Anthropocentrism (the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity in the universe) became the prevailing philosophical stance.
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However, multiple indigenous cultures consider vegetal beings part of an animistic world, in which objects, places and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence, and are animated and alive. Within these cultures, value is placed on kinship relations between people and creatures, and this extends seamlessly to plants.
The Plant Communitas exhibition acknowledges that Western societies are increasingly beginning to understand the positive impact of plants on human well-being – the capacity to nourish, nurture and heal.
It includes work by Annemiek de Beer, Gemma Costin, Amanda Coppes-Martin, Sigrid Holmwood, Mair Hughes, Madeleine Kelly, Fiona Owen, Cristina Flores Pescorán, Ingrid Pumayalla, Siren Elise Wilhelmsen and Tim Parry-William.
Cristina and Ingrid are Peruvian artists with practices spanning textiles, moving image, photography and ritual performance.
Ingrid said: “The performances are a modern cry and dialogue informed by the spiritual relationship that indigenous peoples from the Andes and the Amazon develop with their surroundings.”
Madeleine Kelly added: “Printing with light is at the heart of my work with photosynthesis.
“The scientist Lynn Margulis proved the organelle responsible for photosynthesis, the chloroplast, evolved when ancient bacteria merged with eukaryotic cells to become an entirely new symbiotic being. She postulated that we are all walking communities of our bacterial origins.”
The Sidney Nolan Trust has worked with curator Patricia Brien to tour the exhibition, which was first shown at Museum in the Park, in Stroud, last year. As a touring exhibition, it has different iterations and responses to the specific nuances of place and context.
This exhibition in the gallery, at The Rodd, acknowledges and incorporates the work of Sir Sidney Nolan as an important inspiration and anchor in the curatorial direction.
The exhibition is accompanied by a schedule of events including artists in conversation, performances and workshops, details of which can be found on the trust’s website.
Plan a visit to both this and other exhibitions which include Earth Photo 2023, the beautiful gardens, a great pop-up cafe and the historic manor house.
The Sidney Nolan Trust is open to visitors from Thursday-Saturday, from 11am-4pm.
Admission for adults is £6, concessions and students £5, under 16s free.
For more information, visit https://www.sidneynolantrust.org/.
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