Vision Art Platform presents ‘Botanicals’ in London

LONDON

Vision Art Platform is presenting “Botanicals,” a group exhibition curated by Gary Sangster, at its London gallery.

Opened on July 16 and running through Aug. 14, the exhibition brings together works by Ackroyd & Harvey, Benjamin Jones, Rosemary Laing, Wendy McMurdo, Eamon O’Kane and Deirdre O’Mahony.

Through photography, painting, drawing and moving image, “Botanicals” examines the layered relationship between plant life and humanity.

Rather than approaching plants solely as decorative elements or scientific specimens, the exhibition considers how they shape ecological systems, cultural narratives and human experience. The works address subjects including cultivated and manipulated plant life, commercial agriculture, forest growth, neglected glasshouses and environmental activism in the Brazilian Amazon.

The exhibition takes its title from the term used for substances, extracts and other materials derived directly from plants. Commonly associated with natural scents, flavors and therapeutic properties, botanicals are used in fields ranging from medicine and skincare to food and beverage production.

Sangster extends the term beyond its scientific, medicinal and commercial meanings, using it as a framework for examining how contemporary art represents humanity’s dependence on plant life.

The exhibition follows neither the scientific classifications of botany nor a purely aesthetic view of organic form. Instead, its works use perception, visual form and critical inquiry to consider the connections between nature, culture, ecology and human intervention.

“Botanicals” does not set out a single interpretation of those relationships. It offers an open-ended space for viewers to reflect on plant life and its place within changing scientific, technological and social conditions.

The exhibition is on view at Vision Art Platform, 34 Mortimer Street, London. Admission is free. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday.