Herbarium Education Project
Herbarium is San Mei Gallery’s first collaborative participation project with CHIPS, a peacemaking organisation based on Angell Town Estate, who work on the estate and beyond to tackle the root causes of youth violence with committed youth work, mentoring and family support.
Together we built a project around the importance of plants for two groups of young people CHIPS work with: 14-16 year olds involved in a youth club called YEC (Youth Experience Club) set up by young people on Angell Town, and 11-12 year olds from Lilian Baylis Secondary School who are being mentored by CHIPS. The project aimed to cultivate an interest in nature, and to bring them into contact with professionals such as artists, architects, gardeners and botanists.
Installation view: Matthew Beach, The Herbarium’s Shadow, 2021 © San Mei Gallery
Herbarium uses as its departure point the exhibition The Herbarium’s Shadow , by artist Matthew Beach, an immersive exhibition at San Mei Gallery about plant-human domestic relations. Drawn from the results of Beach’s artist residency in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, the exhibition comprised live Philodendron plants grown up the central column of the gallery and 19th century-inspired botanical wallpaper featuring the tropical plant design by the artist.
Herbarium was designed in four parts:
1. A workshop at San Mei Gallery with Matthew Beach and Education Manager Janet Currier
At San Mei the young people spent time with Janet discussing the various parts of the exhibition and how we build relationships with plants, pooling knowledge of what we use plants for in everyday life. Matthew then taught the young people how to propagate tropical plants, snipping branches of Philodendron from the installation off at the nodes and burying them in moss and specially mixed compost to take home and grow.
2. The construction of a bamboo pumpkin tunnel with two architects from Cullinan Studios
The project reconvened on Angell Town Estate’s thriving growing project where the gardeners and This is Progress [link] had kindly lent the project a raised bed on which to work. Carol Costello and Kristina Roszynski from Cullinan Studios architects discussed sustainability in architecture with the group before helping the young people to construct a pumpkin tunnel made from bamboo and complete with flags made from fabric bought in Brixton Market.
3. Planting of flowers and gourds with Myatt’s Field Park gardeners
With the help of Myatt’s Field Park Head Gardener, Fabrice Boltho, the young people prepared the raised bed with compost and chicken manure fertilizer before planting bottle gourds, flowers and tomatoes on the site. Over summer the gourds and vines will climb the structure, hopefully producing hanging gourds by autumn.
4. A nature photography workshop at Kew Gardens
Hard work deserves a break and the project culminated in a trip to Kew Gardens where Olivia Porritt from Kew’s learning team led a photography workshop, allowing the young people to roam around Kew in bloom, snapping close-ups of its flower varieties. The young people also met Kew’s young volunteers who shared their experiences of it, and set them off on a journey through Kew’s famous glasshouses....
This project was designed and led by San Mei Gallery’s Anna Bromwich and Janet Currier and CHIPS’ Michelle Killington and Kamika Nathan.
We are grateful for the support of those who gave their time to make this project happen: all the CHIPS staff and volunteers - Michelle, Kamika, Rishan, Jemmar and Abdoul - Janet Currier and Matthew Beach, Carol Costello and Kristina Roszynski from Cullinan Studios, Fabrice Boltho and Tori Sherwin from Myatt’s Field Park, Olivia Porritt and the Youth Explainers from Kew Gardens and Ollie Wiggins, a filmmaker currently working at the BBC who has been making a film of the process with two of the young people.
Thank you to our Education Sponsors Avory Smith for supporting this project. Avory Smith donate 10% of their sales fees to our education projects, allowing us to create meaningful experiences with our community partners.
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