Plant Dreaming

Featuring large-scale textiles, as well as ceramics, drawings, photography, and film, Plant Dreaming encourages us to think about different types of plant knowledge, and how they relate to ecopolitics and the self. 

This group exhibition brings together recent works by contemporary artists that look at plants from a poetic or narrative perspective, rather than through a scientific lens. They celebrate modes of knowledge that draw on the power of the imagination, stories, folklore, and ritual, encouraging us to reconsider the position of humans in our interconnected world. 

Some of the artists examine stories of displacement and migration: Aliyah Hussain’s installation connects her experience of living with flooding in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire, with the floodplains created by the construction of the Mangla Dam in Pakistan. Yan Wang Preston’s work focuses on the plant Rhododendron Ponticum, considered an invader in the UK but revered in its native China. 

Emma Talbot’s paintings on silk celebrate the medicinal uses of plants, while Charmaine Watkiss’ work draws on her interest in traditional knowledges and cross-generational exchange. Yorkshire-born and Cornwall-based artist SHARP explores how the natural world can act as a tonic for queer alienation, and Jane Lawson’s textiles are made for a utopian future. Between sculpture, installation, and film, Noémie Goudal’s video work addresses themes of death and renewal and deep geological time, as well as questioning our perception of reality and illusion. 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of talks and workshops, as well as a showcase of botanical specimens from Leeds Museums and Galleries’ extensive Natural Science Collection. 

Featuring artists including Noémie Goudal, Aliyah Hussain, Jane Lawson, Yan Wang Preston, SHARP, Emma Talbot and Charmaine Watkiss.