I am excited for this opportunity to show in

The London Group in their 2025, 86th, Open.

I am presenting a sculpture named:

Extinct in the Wild (R.I.P.), 2025.

Nine small concrete gravestones,

Nine extinct plants,

Presented in ‘date last seen’ order.

Geocaryum divaricatum (dls: 1852, EX),

Geocaryum bornmuelleri (dls: 1891, EX),

Astragalus nitidiflorus (dls: 1909, EX),

Ornithogalum visianicum (dls: 1911, EX),

Centaurea tuntasia (dls: 1912, EX),

Viola cryana (dls: 1927, EX),

Euphrasia mendoncae (dls: 1936, EX),

Nobregaea latinervis (dls: 1946, EX),

Fissidens microstictus (dls: 1982, EX).

Extinct in the Wild (R.I.P.), 2025, juxtaposes vulnerability, loss, and grief in the natural world, the extinction of assessed species of plants, and the threats to both the habitat and ecology of biodiverse systems.

'R.I.P.' pays tribute to the eco-problem; and draws attention to a general failure of philosophy to recognise equal status of humans and plants.

'R.I.P.' names nine extinct species of plants, and expresses the need to respect in quiet reverence a memorial which any human might expect after death.

The Materials

Lead, archival greyboard, digital Giclee print, concrete; the mining, harvesting, and energy usage, required to produce these materials and technology, should remind us of the damage done; the poisoning and physical disruption of the planet, animal life forms, and plantae.

The materials used in the making of this work could be viewed as problematic; but this is understood; the material choice draws attention to the problem itself.

Lead, archival greyboard, digital Giclee print, concrete; the mining, harvesting, and energy usage, required to produce these materials and technology, should remind us of the damage done; the poisoning and physical disruption of the planet, animal life forms, and plantae.

Concept

Despite the rigours of research the work remains one of abstraction; where abstraction is not opposed to content, but actually embodies it.

Lead plant labels embossed with Latin plant names also index other relevant information; the lead offers an aptly weighted materiality for the subject.

The lead plant labels rest on a soft bed of archival greyboard which offer a cushioning effect against the harsh concrete surface; bestowing 'Sit tibi terra levis' as a protective shroud.

Groundwork for this project has entailed gathering facts from online resources to assess threatened plant species; Royal Horticultural Society, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, or the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red List of Threatened Species Database.

The project focusses the visual and physical link between research and art; as understood through the words of Emanuele Coccia, Donna J Haraway, John Hejduk, Juan Meñoz, Giuseppe Penone, and Michael Sandle, among many others.

Outcome

"When an exhibition becomes a field trip."

The opening night for the 86th London Group Open was a huge success and attendance was very high. My sculpture 'Extinct in the Wild, R.I.P. 2025' is a floor standing piece made in nine parts which are laid side by side in a line; it is a quiet sculpture, not in the least bit flamboyant; the nine species of extinct plants speak solemnly enough.

I knew the risks involved with floor standing work but carried on regardless; pretty much straight away at the P.V. there was an incident as someone walked into the end piece of the sculpture and dislodged a concrete block; the person involved became upset by the accident and apologised; initially I was upset myself but as the evening progressed the sculpture was repeatedly kicked and disrupted by passers-by; after a while I stopped readjusting the sculpture to become an onlooker of these incidental events; watching as the sculpture was kicked but also noticing how the kicker's became visibly distressed for their action and sometimes attempted to re assemble and mend the damaged work.

Turning a negative series of clumsy, seemingly unaware incidents into a positive observation was quite rewarding; the events of the evening were symptomatic of the 'R.I.P' message, as we humans are seemingly unaware of the indirect damage we course to the natural habitation of plants and wild life, and become distraught at the result of our actions only after the event.

Key Research

Nature's ancient analogue database

'The materiality of the world'.

Online database

© IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red List of Threatened Species Threatened Species Database.

Artist : Giuseppe Penone

'Breath of Clay', the artist absorbed into nature.

The Imprint of Drawing, Catherine de Zegher, 2004.       

Artist: Juan Muñoz

Statement: "The more realistic sculptures are meant to be, the less interior life they have". 1975; also "We only have the materiality of the world to explain the world, the space between is one of meaning".

Artist: Michael Sandle

Title: Idea Towards Funeral Monument - Female Version, 1981.

I Ching, or book of changes

01.01.2025; the hexagram read 15. Ch'ien / Modesty;

above: K'un, The receptive, Earth; below: Kên, Keeping still, Mountain.