ART > The Silent Archive (group show), Inverleith House, The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, January - May 2024

"Painful truths, surprising revelations and fresh perspectives on humanity’s complex relationships with the botanical world emerge from our exhibition Silent Archive.

International artists reveal RBGE’s archives in new ways, challenging us to discover hidden narratives and hear long-ignored voices that are preserved in our collections. Significant works that tell stories of scientific discoveries, colonial histories and cultural heritage are displayed for the first time. Plant artistry, photography, music and more help convey how these archives shape our view of history, whose past they represent and how they might inspire change.

Silent Archive features material from RBGE’s collections alongside work from artists Amanda Cobbett, Amanda Thomson, Annalee Davis, Cynthia Fan, Hannah Imlach, Işık Güner, Jacqui Pestell, Janise Yntema, Karine Polwart, Laurie Clark, Pippa Murphy, Sarah Roberts, Sharon Tingey, Shiraz Bayjoo, Sonia Mehra Chawla and Wendy McMurdo".

My new work for this exhibition included:
- Twinflower, a film first shown in the CCA in 2022, is accompanied by a new etching (also part of Footnotes, below) and a cutting from RBGE Collections.
- Footnotes: a series of etchings that explore the complex history of plants, their migrations and how they interweave with human histories; each etching accompanied by items from RBGE archives and collections.
- PRELIMINARY RESEARCH (works in progress) takes over two of RBGE's display cases. Preliminary research relates to a longer term writing project and is a collection of notes and thoughts that relate to how RBGE collections relates to the British Empire and histories of colonialism, enslavement and economic botany. An essay relating to this work can now be found on the RBGE website, A not so silent archive