Botanic Garden.
In 2008, Jill Randall was commissioned by the Richard Attenborough Centre to make new site-specific work for “A Sense of Place”, the annual “Sculpture in the Garden” Exhibition held at the Harold Martin Botanic Garden, University of Leicester. She took inspiration from the botanic gardens of the medieval monasteries of Europe and Asia, which were used for reference and education, acting as a ‘living library’ to teach about the medicinal properties of plants and their effect on the human body. Many common garden plants are highly toxic, and have the potential to ‘kill or cure’ dependent on the dosage. Randall’s work for this commission, “An Alternative Herbal,”consists of 6 individual sculptures based on drawings of internal bodily organs, and located adjacent to releavnt plants in the garden . The works attempt to reconnect plants and shrubs with the human body, and to encourage the visitor to experience the visual and the visceral, whilst exploring a trail navigating the garden in a new way.
Publication “A Sense of Place” 21 June-14 September 2008. ISBN: 978-0-901507-04-4
Photography: Dave Bennett.