Kew Wakehurst
Work: No.1604 Fence
Location: Kew Wakehurst, UK
Date: 2026
Conceived as a light, permeable intervention within the gardens of Kew, Wakehurst, this sculpture preserves uninterrupted views while subtly transforming the landscape. Rather than asserting itself upon the site, the sculpture hovers, dissipates and merges with its surroundings, inviting close observation and slow movement. Conceived to be experienced from multiple distances, the work responds to seasonal changes and the different light conditions they bring.
Photography and film by Andy Stagg
The sculpture combines industrial fencing with locally sourced wooden logs from fallen trees near the site. Arranged in a zigzag formation and bolted into timber blocks, the structure follows and accentuates the natural slope of The Paddock, and uses colour and form to explore the tensions between the man-made and the natural, architecture and landscape, permanence and transience.
The sculpture recontextualises the familiar through the use of off-the-shelf industrial panels – materials typically associated with borders, closure and control. Stripped back to their component parts and rendered autonomous, these recognisable materials become unexpected, prompting reflection on their political and social associations when displaced from their usual function.
The modular form, repetition and layered transparency of the mesh grid oscillate between presence and absence. The work captures the shifting light and encourages movement and interaction, inviting viewers to recognise their place within a shared eco-system. The colour selections act as a quiet bridge between the warm tones of the dogwood and the surrounding flora underscoring nature’s essential impermanence and renewal.
The intervention builds on an ongoing investigation into colour interaction: how one colour affects another and how, through layering, a third dimension of geometry and colour can emerge. Viewed head-on, shades of orange and pink converge and intensify; as the viewer moves, density dissolves and reforms. The formal qualities of the materials combined with the engagement of colour, echo the nearby flowers and foliage to create a bold, yet sensitive intervention in space.
