- Venue
- Birnam Arts
- Starts
- Friday, August 13, 2021
- Ends
- Sunday, August 29, 2021
- Address
- Station Road Birnam PH8 0DS
- Location
- Scotland
- Organiser
- Birnam Arts
a sudden branching departs from the cultural practice of propagating trees by grafting, as taught by the artist’s father. In muted conversation with philosophers, plant biologists and growers, the exhibition considers ideas of inheritance and evolution, straightening devices and mingled bodies.
The installation gleams with the dazzling green of cambium, the layer of stem cells in woody plants from which roots and shoots grow. Above all, a sudden branching revels in the intelligence, resilience and audacity of vegetal life.
a sudden branching grows out of a period of residency earlier in 2021, during which Rowan experimented with darkroom processes and new ceramic techniques and spent time in the fields, forests and orchards around Birnam and Dunkeld.
The exhibition includes a reading nook, where visitors can pause and read related books and articles. A collection of extracts will be read aloud by the artist, and made available online to listen to at home or on a walk.
Associated events include a bud grafting workshop on a Perthshire community farm and a workshop in embodied photography and plant-based photochemistry.
