Saatchi Gallery Gardens - RHS Chelsea

For two consecutive years Dave Green Gardens was comissioned by the Saatchi Gallery to create a garden display on behalf of the gallery at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.  The gardens were a collaboration with a selected Saatchi artist and created a setting for the artist to showcase their work to a new audience.

The first garden featured works by British multimedia artist Catriona Robertson.  The works were created utilising re-claimed urban materials and plant life, and visitors were invited to explore the newly commissioned giant, worm-like sculptures, ‘Gigantic Pile’.

The garden itself aimed to convey the importance of ecological growth without the interruption of human activity, encourage visitors to reconnect with nature. Deck pathways allowed visitors to be physically close to the sculptures and immerse themselves in the site specific garden.

The second garden titled Abeba Esse, depicted a Black Diasporic journey, from Africa to the Caribbean, and ultimately the UK. Visitors were led down a path through changing landscapes, encountering Zak Ové’s Invisible Man sculptures along their journey.

The African section reflected the idea of ‘Paradise Found’, whilst the in the Caribbean, visitors will see a change in the native lush flora and fauna of the islands to that of tilled earth with planted crops, typical of slave plantations. The gateway was marked by a change in the path – from the dark soil of the African jungle, to wooden planks that referenced the slave ships that carried many through the infamous Middle Passage.  Finally visitors reached a quintessential English garden, featuring the kinds of plants found in stately homes and country houses, indicative of the power and wealth accrued in the UK through slavery.

The garden aimed to encourage important conversations about the themes central to Zak Ové’s work – the African Diaspora, contemporary multiculturalism, globalisation, and the blend of politics, tradition, race, and history that informs our identities.