Trees in the City

Trees in the City

Trees in the City was an exhibition curated earlier in 2025.

About 10 years ago, when I was working as an editor for an academic journal, an article arrived on my desk from Iran. It was about urban design and one sentence leapt off the page - “The city is the skeleton of our economy but it’s trees and gardens feed our souls”.

As Cambridge expands, that phrase echoes in my thoughts but sadly to so many people trees are seen as an enemy to everything urban, as they push up concrete in places where people walk, drop leaves, block a certain amount of light and require pruning which is inconvenient to the owners of the city’s bought to collect the rent properties. Their helpfulness in flood limitation and as air purifiers is ridiculed by the motor normative, who call those who nurture and protect them tree-huggers.

I put out a call for submissions at the collective where I have a studio, Unit 13, the response from other Unit 13 residents was rewarding. These are my contributions:

photo of a tree trunk in front of a brick wall

A photograph

Bricks and Bark

I was sitting in a cafe in Dalston, East London. This is what I saw through the window; bricks and bark. The combination of light, darkness and movement within this urbanised environment started to inspire this series.

photo of a pavement and grass in a frame

Dead Leaves on Concrete

A PHOTOGRAPH

This image emphasises that seeds have been dropped in an environment where future roots cannot germinate within a concrete nursery.

Steel Roots

A PHOTOGRAPH

Similar to 'Dead Leaves on Concrete' this piece shows the urbanisation impact on natures foundations.

PRINT, WORDS and IMAGE

Mary, Mary...

Influenced by popular nursery rhyme 'Mary Mary Quite Contrary' which is thought to originate from Queen Mary Tudor's determination to stick to Catholicism amidst a cultural change in values and truthfulness. This passage is about our inability to respect growing grass and the desires to replace with fake grass.

COLLAGE

City Chlorophyll

This piece brings together metal and rubber collaged with paper and watercolour. The three repurposed metal components came from a gutter on Barnwell Drive near Studio 13.

Here the oblongs and squares are associated with cities and roads in contrast to the organic shapes nature this collage brings both contrasting elements together in one piece.

Root and Brick II

BRICK SCULPTURE

This isolated Brick sculpture depicts the struggle of trees trying to survive by finding their roots around bricks to gain nutrients.

The Death of a Tree

MIXED MEDIA

This mixed media piece depicts the death of a tree buried in a coffin derived by its own materials.

Sculpture

Trees are Not Surviving

Inspired by Joni Mitchell - "dug up the trees and put them in the tree museum."

Green Life

ACRYLIC ON CANVAS

This canvas is overlaid with spray paint and has detailing of red veining within the details.

Concrete

SCULPTURE

The concrete was saved from a skip and the sculpture, using only hard, manmade materials, developed.

acrylic on canvas

Urban Dryad

This painting depicts a Greek tree spirit.

Final Words...

As Cambridge continues to grow, this truth feels increasingly clear. Trees soften the hard edges of urban life; they steady us, cool us, and remind us that a city is more than its structures.