I don’t have the opportunity to make installations as often as I’d like. They require a lot of space, a lot of time, and, sadly, they rarely pay. But installations are a key part of my practice because - as someone interested in place, time and social experience - there’s little else that can address all of these concerns concurrently.
In this article, I wanted to take you through some of the steps and considerations when designing and constructing a floral installation - how I design for particular constraints, and how the installation physically comes together - and show you the resulting artwork. I’m focusing on my most recent site-specific installation, Alter (2024), but I’ll reference others along the way for comparison.
Background
I’d been in discussions with poet and composer, Helena Tibocha, for a number of months. Like me, her works draw inspiration from the natural landscape, from the cultivation of flowers and the relationship between our identities and place. It felt natural for us to design an artistic programme together, drawing together the disciplines of visual art, music and poetry. We found a venue that we’re happy to host us - the stunning Sudeley Castle in the English Cotswolds - and identified the perfect place to host this diverse programme - the castle’s chapel and resting place of Katherine Parr…
Site-specific Art
There were two focal points in the chapel that would suit installations. The first was the small side-room, where visitors were able to see the tomb of Katherine Parr with intimacy. Here, I designed a floral casket, an ode to the past Queen and her lasting legacy.
The other location was the chapel’s altar. It’s a stunning location, full of drama and wonder. It was perfect for a large-scale work. The only problem being that this was a historic building - I couldn’t touch the fabric of it - and I had to work out of the castle's opening hours - for two hours after the venue closed, and two hours the following morning before it opened.
My usual practice of attaching lines from the ceiling - both impractical and hugely time-consuming… well, that just wasn’t going to fly.
So what then? I had to alter my ideas. I had to transform the Altar without making any lasting changes. Alter.
Designing Site-Specific Installations
Within this work, I wanted to think about the chapel as a place of sanctuary. So many people come to the church for peace, for forgiveness, and I wanted to think about the ways in which the natural landscape can provide its own form of sanctuary. The natural landscape has been shown to calm busy minds, to provide space and inspiration. Is there forgiveness there too? For me, the nurturing of a landscape is redemptive, so yes, maybe there is forgiveness there too.
So rather than the wispy, ethereal installations that usually define my practice, for this piece I chose to create a more tangible, immersive landscape; a place that visitors could move around at different heights, and experience an altered interpretation of sanctuary. A place that draws you in and holds you close for a moment.
Making A Floral Installation
To manage the physical constraints of the building, the final installation was designed to work from the floor up - quite distinct from my other works. I installed a two-meter hoop and large tree branches to give the installation height and presence.
The tight time constraints meant I needed to be able to fill the space quickly. So I pre-made a number of elements - a decorated floral voile that spanned the width of the hoop, and dried flower garland pieces that float within the space (even now, I couldn't resist just a little bit of floating!)
I had pre-cut large swathes of oasis to fill the space, and - with the help of my wonderful gallery manager, Jess, we worked non-stop to fill the space with dried flowers, grasses, branches, seed heads... the until eventually the altar had taken on a new landscape. Watch our progress below:
The final result was a dramatic piece that lived up to the wonderful space we were working in. It's often in dealing with the constraints of a project that you find new ways of creating - which in turn leave you with more possibilities for future works. For me, I'm excited to see what projects are coming next from here.
You can read more about the exhibition, The Art of Flowers, here. And be sure to subscribe to the mailing list for details when new exhibitions are launched.
Anna x
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