HAVEN: a project for Southbank Centre this summer

Drawing by Denman+Gould, Maeve Polkinhorn and Jai Heming

ANNOUNCEMENT | I’m working with artists Denman+Gould to create a collaborative work called HAVEN on a balcony of the Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre this summer.

It’s part of a programme of events at Southbank Centre called Planet Summer, that take an attitude of care, hope and activism towards climate change, taking inspiration from artist Otobong Nkanga’s suggestion that ‘caring is a form of resistance’. The programme runs from 21 June - 3 September 2023.

HAVEN demonstrates that even small pockets of urban space can be used to provide vital support for wildlife.

All the plants are native British wildflowers and have been carefully selected to attract bees, butterflies and other insects.  The planting is punctuated by wildlife pods that can house nesting birds, drawn and hand-carved in sustainably sourced oak by Denman+Gould.  The form of the pods are inspired by the ridged and textured beauty of wildflower seedheads. Each pod contains space for birds to nest or perch and for creatures to shelter. When colonised, the sculptures will become vessels for new life; cradles of growth and new beginnings, just like the seedheads they are modelled on. 

At the end of Planet Summer a wildlife nesting pod from Haven will be relocated to the Queen Elizabeth Roof Garden, originally commissioned by the Southbank Centre in 2011. 

HAVEN is commissioned by Southbank Centre with support in kind from Wildflower Turf Ltd and is curated by Cedar Lewisohn with Mark Healy.