Twenty-Fifth Exhibition
Fireweed (rosebay willow herb/epilobium angustifolium), a plant that grew on the bomb site that became Golden Lane Estate, it is known as a flower that grows easily on earth that has been burnt.
EXHIBIT is proud to present the Fireweed, a group exhibition by artists Liz Davis, Clare Gerrard and Susanna Jacobs exploring different aspects of wild nature in the city.
Liz Davis’ work involves the passing of time, with two projects presenting the past and the future. In the fifty years the flora of the city has altered; Liz Davis’ first project sets out to find plants which exemplify these changes. These mounted specimens will become part of the Natural History Museum’s archive. Through painting and sculpture, Davis’ second project looks to the deep future when humans abandon the City, the Golden Lane Estate reverts to nature, and a new ecology emerges. The buildings are overgrown, Great Arthur House will be alive with birds, and the now manicured open spaces will become thickets within which wild animals will roam.
Drawn from field research carried out in the City, Clare Gerrard has made a document of a present day landscape of the City and Golden Lane. Since the Golden Lane Estate was built in 1958 the natural environment of the area has changed drastically. Once it was surrounded by bombsites and ruins and yet full of wildlife, plants and birds. Now wildlife survives temporarily before it is routinely cleared from the streets and parks or sites as they are developed. The is a record of wild plants and flowers found growing in the City today.
Susanna Jacobs is showing an installation of drawing and animation at the basement gallery. The austere simplicity of the architecture of Golden Lane Estate is seen as a group of stage sets where the drama of the past can be re-imagined. The estate becomes wilderness, and nature is resurgent in scenes reminiscent not just of the overgrown ruins of the Blitz, but also of the primitive landscape of prehistoric London.
Fireweed is one of the Super Estate Projects, which celebrate the 50th anniversary of Golden Lane Estate.
10 Sept – 16 Oct 2011
Super Estate Projects 8 – Fireweed from EXHIBIT Gallery on Vimeo.
