Because of intermittent rain, an artwork created by Holly Hallawell – who I had introduced to Gaia after she did an installation for Volans in Somerset House during London Climate Action Week – met Elaine and I as we entered Strawberry Hill House for the 2025 Flower Festival on 14th September. And this year, for the first time, Gaia had guest curated the festival.
Holly’s piece, shown above, was strung between two mangrove stumps, or pneumatophores. And driftwood – supplied by Gaia’s friend Adam (of Woodenzone) – appeared in many of the exhibits around the house and garden.
A bad workman blames his tools, so much we know, or have been told. In any event, I left my iPhone camera in the car, and assumed I had left it at home. So borrowed Elaine’s rather antiquated phone (one of my old ones) to take images as we went around – slightly agog. The calibre of the exhibits this year was remarkable, astounding even. But the quality of my images was somewhat reduced.
Still, wonderful to see the room that once houses the giant driftwood spider, Arachne, made by Gaia and Adam, now occupied by an exhibit celebrating David Lynch’s Twin Peaks – with the theme tune playing eerily in the background. Overall, the effect of the festival was whatever the positive version of haunting might be.
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