This is written by us, informed by our experience in conjunction with feedback from clients and mentors, with the intention of sharing our creative journey and physical experience with you, the reader.

This project required the creation of 6 large sculptures which would be versatile enough to encourage natural play and clambering on whilst embedding some of the story of the park. This was a component of an ongoing project to rejuvenate the children’s play area at the park, and so in addition to commercial play equipment, they wanted to have some tactile materials that children could interact with. 

During the initial concept meetings, we were able to engage with a local Friends of West Ham Park group to understand more about what they wanted to see specifically from the wood carvings. The general sentiment from the engagement was that the sculptures should symbolise and represent the history of the park itself. 

West Ham Park has been owned and managed by the City of London Corporation since 1874. One characteristic that has made this park stand out over the years is its renowned botanical garden described as ‘second only to Kew Gardens’. The collection of rare plants is attributed to Dr. John Fothergill, a physician and keen botanist, who owned the estate in the 18th century. Its current collection is inspired by Dr. Fothergill who often accepted rare plants instead of payment for his work!

For this reason, we decided to incorporate flora and fruits from various geographic regions, reflecting the origin of plants in the botanical gardens. We depicted the flora and fruits in the carving logs, giving each one a different character. The result was:

• A Sonoran Cactus (North America)

• A Banana wrapped in a Ginko leaf native to China and tropical India (Asia)

• An Artichoke wrapped in Eucalyptus leaves (Europe)

• An unfurling Fern, most common to Costa Rica (Central and South America)

• Three pomegranates with their exposed pith (Middle East)

And the final piece was a Teapot pouring liquid tea as it transforms into the original form of tea leaves, anchored by the hands of labour that gathered them. 

While we understood the desire for these plants and fruits, we wanted to acknowledge that whilst the history of the area led to a botanical garden and then to the ornamental gardens that we enjoy today at West Ham Park, this was not without the hardship that followed from British colonial rule. The only way that Fothergill was able to attain such rare plants was due to the plunder of such countries at the expense of many other human beings. 

For this reason, the final piece with the hands of labour that gathers the tea leaves, is to signify and represent the hardship of others. This only scratches the surface of history, but it was a modest attempt to acknowledge these facts within our sculptural work.