In Veiled Thorn, Wales 2023, agricultural plastic sheeting found in a nearby field has been hung over the branches of a Blackthorn tree creating a dystopian image where a plague of plastic waste overruns nature. The resulting ‘assemblage’ echos the fatalism and human forms in Rodin’s classic 1884 sculpture, The Bhurgers of Calais. Or maybe a scene from the witches in Macbeth. Perry points to recent scientific studies that indicate there is now over 20 times more plastic in our soils than in the oceans. In White Square, 2024 sheep’s wool has been wrapped around a wire fence to create a fluffy white square set against the backdrop of an empty field. The ‘square’ mimmicks the wool ‘markings’ left by sheep trying to reach tastier grass on the other side of the fence. But behind this playful intervention lies a darker narrative, the story of a landscape laid bare by decades of monoculture farming. In Scaffolding, 2023 the artist has drawn a grid like structure around an Ash tree suffering from Ash Dieback disease. The resulting image suggests nature in need of repair. Red Rectangle, Dinas Mountain was a spontaneous response to a blue stone granite rock Perry came across whilst walking across the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire. Perhaps a counter to traditional depictions of a mythical Celtic landscape. Trump Tree 2 is part of the Y Cae Art/Ecology project. After the election of Trump in 2024, Perry decided to plant a tree sapling for every month Trump is in power. The idea being that the trees would outlive his presidency and provide some hope for the future.
Reverse Sod Swap is a response to artist David Nash’s 1983 work Sod Swap, in which Nash swapped a pristine circle of lawn from the grounds of Serpentine Gallery in West London with a circle of rough turf from North Wales, transplanting the rural into the urban and vice versa. A botanist counted twenty-seven species in the Welsh turf and only three in the London turf. In his 2024 piece, with David’s support, Perry reversed the process, swapping a piece of ‘wilded’ turf from Springfield Park in Hackney, East London with a piece of sheep-mown turf from farmland in West Wales. This time botanists counted thirty-nine species in the urban turf and only 4 species were visible in the rural turf, highlighting the contrast between the enlightened rewilding of our urban parks and the decades of biodiversity loss in our National Parks, landscapes commonly celebrated for their ‘Outstanding Natural Beauty’. For 0 Life the artist photographed through a metal ring found on the beach. The zero symbol reflects the tragic loss of seabirds and marine life along the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. According to the RSPB, seabird populations have fallen by over 80% since 1970, mainly due to the decline in fish. Invertebrate Test Square is a photograph of one of the many experiments carried out at The Y Cae Art/Ecology Project. The artist sowed wild flowers and different species of flora in marked out squares in order to establish which plant species attracted the most insects. Bog Willow Audit is part of a carbon capture experiment at the Y Cae Project.
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