Alex Park-Reeve

We live in a human-built world, a human geological age – the Anthropocene.

We are conscious that we are damaging the natural world to the point when it is irreversible. Pollution from car fumes is human air; climate change creates extreme weather which the natural environment can reduce; gardens are a site where humans demonstrate control and order over nature. Rather than be a culture in conflict with nature, we need to work with it to protect our environment, species and the Earth.

The green lungs (gardens, parks, nature reserves) of the city absorb much of the pollution, and the rows of trees that line our streets act like their arteries, creating an urban forest. New naturalistic planting design for gardens, use self-seeding perennials to increase biodiversity.  

Through drawing we can engage with, learn and understand the plants and trees so essential for our survival, in an intimate and sensory way. To protect them we need to be aware of them in our everyday lives, remember them through our senses, and appreciate their beauty and the work they do for us – we need to be prepared to fight for them.

My approach in this is to draw people into my research, that has been written up into a concise and accessible text and engage them in the subject, through large-scale ambitious visual investigations that are often very aesthetic and textural.