Kew Gardens has announced a new exhibition titled ‘The Power of Trees’. It will be held at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, where trees’ spectacle will be showcased, and their resonance will be celebrated as a source of artistic inspiration across cultures and generations.
Opening in April 2025, ‘The Power of Trees’ will feature a variety of works, from painstakingly painted botanical artworks to an innovative video installation that transports visitors to a mystical boreal forest. The exhibition will also illuminate the personal connections between artists and trees and showcase how depicting nature through different art forms can help us connect more deeply with the world.
Twenty newly commissioned botanical artworks created by the artists of the Bedgebury Florilegium Society will receive their world premiere as part of the exhibition. Located in Kent, Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest was developed through a pioneering partnership with the Forestry Commission and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, following the end of the First World War.
William Dallimore (who started work at Kew Gardens as a student gardener in 1891 before being appointed assistant curator and eventually Keeper of the Museums) was instrumental in planning the National Pinetum at Bedgebury.
After noticing that years of increasing industrial pollution in London were adversely impacting the growth of the trees, Dallimore searched for a better environment to house Kew’s conifer collection. With varied topography and a mixture of soil types, Bedgebury proved ideal, and the first planting of trees grown at Kew took place there in 1925.
Today, the National Pinetum is celebrating 100 years and is home to a world-leading collection of conifers containing nearly 12,000 specimen trees. To celebrate the centenary of the first planting, the Bedgebury Florilegium Society has selected 20 of these trees as the subjects of botanical artworks, which will receive their world premiere as part of The Power of Trees.
Not only are these works visually beautiful, but they also provide a vital record for the National Pinetum, with the group creating botanically accurate drawings of trees and plants from living samples across the seasons.
The work of the Florilegium Society continues a centuries-old tradition of recording the natural world. This enriches our understanding of plants and nature, aids botanical identification, and describes species.
Alongside the artworks, visitors will also learn more about the connections between Kew and Bedgebury through a selection of archive materials, including diaries and letters, which will be on public display for the first time.
In parallel to these botanical artworks, The Power of Trees will also showcase a spectacular cinematic installation from Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila. Spanning six vertical screens, Horizontal—Vaakasuora is a critically acclaimed cinematic portrait of a 30-metre spruce in the boreal forest of Finland, a tree that Ahtila has known all her life.
The high-definition depiction will explore how to show the scale, history, and complexity of a towering tree in its entirety while simultaneously containing and presenting it through perhaps the most ubiquitous mechanism of modern human existence—the screen.
Alongside the video installation, visitors will also be able to see a selection of Ahtila’s preparatory and parallel board drawings, titled ANTHROPOMORPHIC EXERCISES IN FILM, in which she applies cinematic grammar to a non-human subject, receiving their UK premiere as part of this new exhibition at Kew Gardens.
Artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila says, “The process of creating Horizontal—Vaakasuora was a truly inspirational one, and connecting with this remarkable tree afforded me a magical opportunity to immerse myself in nature and witness the existential challenges that the world around us is facing firsthand.
“Using the traditionally human-dominated medium of film to tell this story allowed me to explore all this tree must endure to survive, as well as its role as a living, breathing part of the ecosystem. I’m delighted that visitors can encounter the artwork as they visit Kew Gardens, and I hope that they can find time to reflect on the resilience of the trees we so often overlook.”
Dan Luscombe, Curator of Forestry England’s Bedgebury Pinetum, said, “Bringing these incredible artworks by the Bedgebury Florilegium Society to Kew Gardens in 2025 is a wonderfully fitting way to celebrate the National Pinetum’s centenary and the close connections forged between the two organisations.
“It’s truly inspiring to work with the Florilegium and see their enthusiasm for Bedgebury’s remarkable trees. Their artwork is an invaluable asset in allowing us all to better understand and appreciate the plants and trees around us, and I’m delighted that visitors to Kew Gardens will be able to see their remarkable work as part of The Power of Trees.”
Maria Devaney, Galleries and Exhibition Leader at RBG Kew added, “Trees in all of their spectacular forms have long been a source of inspiration for artists, so it’s wonderful to be able to examine and celebrate this connection with this new exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.
“From the intricate skill of the Bedgebury Florilegium to the all-encompassing video installation of Eija-Liisa Ahtila, it’s clear that trees provoke a huge array of artistic responses, and I can’t think of a better place to celebrate their spectacular power than at Kew Gardens amongst our incredible 11,000 strong collection.”
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is committed to harnessing the power of plants and fungi to end the extinction crisis and secure a future for all life on Earth. With Kew’s world-leading research, global partnerships and beloved gardens – home to the world’s most diverse collections of plants and fungi – it uses its trusted voice to shape policy and practice worldwide.
As a charity, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew relies on the critical support of its visitors to sustain the gardens and protect global plant and fungal biodiversity for the benefit of our planet and humanity.
A ticket to Kew Gardens includes admission to the exhibition. Pre-booking online offers the best value visit.