A Modern Day Herbal

Royal Horticultural Society – Gardens of Imagination Programme (2024–2026)

Creative Practitioner | Threads of Nature at hARTslane Gallery, Lewisham

What is a modern-day herbal?

Historically, dating back to the 1500s, a herbal was a book documenting plants and their medicinal properties—used as a healing tool. Today, with modern pharmaceuticals, our reliance on herbal remedies has lessened. So, in today’s world, if our herbal is no longer a book, what might it be?

As the Lewisham creative practitioner for the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘Gardens of Imagination’ program (2024-2026), I co-developed a deeply collaborative, place-based project exploring the healing power of gardens, plants, and green spaces through a contemporary lens. This project involved working across seven vibrant community growing groups from multicultural backgrounds, including volunteers, social subscribers, hospital gardeners, and individuals experiencing mental and physical ill health. Together, we reimagined the role of the traditional herbal as a collective tool for connection, care, and cultural storytelling. This project connects people with nature, themselves, and each other, harnessing the power of hidden green spaces throughout the Borough of Lewisham. The RHS ‘Gardens of Imagination’ programme initiative involves a series of national co-creation projects that share experiences and stories, helping people explore how a modern-day herbal is represented in their contemporary communities.

From the very first session, as a co-creation project we delved deep into understanding each person’s perspective, cultural background, heritage, and ambitions. By sharing this information as a group, we began to create a group identity with personal aims. This enabled me to tailor the project, curating several months worth of inclusive, relevant, and accessible workshops to guide and support the co-creators to find their collective and individual artistic language towards their desired outcomes. We started by investigating the theme of ‘A Modern-Day Herbal,’ exploring RHS Lindley Library and Science collections, we peered into rare books as a springboard responding to historical herbals and translating these learning into our contemporary practice. We then found our collective visual identity through drawing, mark-making and colour theory workshops in garden spaces. Following this, I skill-shared textile techniques chosen by the group to begin creating their final artworks for exhibition. We worked with natural dyeing, bundle dye, botanical drawing, and several stitch and fabric manipulation techniques to surface personal and collective narratives.

The Lewisham groups' finale response to ‘What is a Modern Day Herbal’ was an installation, Threads of Nature, was a tactile, sensory celebration of community voice, rooted in ecology and care. Displayed at Hartslane Gallery, the work formed a suspended textile landscape of naturally dyed fabrics, abstractly following the meandering Ravensbourne river into the thames which led to an interactive map of Lewisham’s green spaces, titled 'Lewisham Urban Oasis' were visitors could highlight their modern day herbal in Lewisham and share their stories to create an evolving artwork. 

Threads of Nature is layered with textures, motifs, and symbolic forms chosen by the group. Each wallhanging echoes of healing rituals, intergenerational memory, and the quiet strength found in growing together. The exhibition was accompanied by a public programme of free, accessible textile workshops designed to extend the project's impact and invite broader community engagement.

This project sits at the heart of my socially-engaged practice—using craft as a tool for expression, empowerment and wellbeing. By centring co-creation, I aim to hold space for unheard voices and to celebrate shared stewardship between people and planet. Gardens of Imagination continues through 2026 and will culminate in a national exhibition titled A Modern Day Herbal, uniting local projects across the UK into a collective creative response.

Creative Director of Bound Amber Jarman-Crainey & design florist Lara Sanja are delighted to donate the remains of the meadow from Bound to RHS 'Threads of Nature' immersive exhibition.

What is the longevity of ‘Threads of Nature’?

In 2024, it was later displayed at Sydenham Gardens as part of the Lewisham Nature Trail event. This event aimed to showcase accessible green spaces across Lewisham to the public. Additionally, the Lewisham Urban Oasis map has been shared online, encouraging more Lewisham locals to discover their own green spaces.

Additional candid behind-the-scenes footage showcasing the development of the Lewisham groups’ response to the question “What is a Modern Day Herbal?”