Queer Nature opens at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Kew Gardens hosts Queer Nature Festival, celebrating the interplay of identity, plants, and fungi throughout October.

Image: Queer Nature, Kew Gardens. September 2023. © MTotoe.

Kew Gardens is currently hosting the Queer Nature festival, which opened this weekend and extends throughout the entire month of October. This pioneering festival aims to celebrate the profound interconnections between queer individuals, plants, and fungi, shedding light on the richness and complexity of nature. The festival challenges binary perspectives and underscores the importance of embracing and safeguarding the natural world in all its diversity.

Image: House of Spirits by Jeffrey Gibson, Queer Nature. Kew Gardens. September 2023. © MTotoe.

A standout feature of the festival is the inspiring installation known as the House of Spirits by Jeffrey Gibson, elegantly suspended at the heart of Kew Gardens' Temperate House. This grand fabric creation is embellished with intricate botanical illustrations and patterns, all inspired by Gibson's distinct interpretation of queerness and its profound connection to the natural world. The 'House' in the title pays homage to the ball culture, an underground subculture deeply rooted in the queer African-American and Latino communities of New York City. This installation serves as an embodiment of the festival's core themes, inviting viewers to explore and celebrate the intricate tapestry of human identity and the natural world.

Image: Pansies by The Pansy Project at Kew Gardens. September 2023. © MTotoe.

The festival showcases The Pansy Project by Paul Harfleet. In 2005, Harfleet initiated this impactful project, symbolically planting pansies at locations marred by homophobic and transphobic incidents and documenting each planting to raise awareness. This silent resistance has seen over 300 pansies planted globally, from London to New York, since 2005. Another festival highlight is ‘Reverberations,’ a profoundly impactful spoken word performance by the talented artists LiLi K. Bright and Ama Josephine Budge Johnstone. Their evocative words celebrating diversity and queerness in nature echo as you wander through Temperate House.

Image: 'Reverberations,' a profoundly impactful spoken word performance by LiLi K. Bright and Ama Josephine Budge Johnstone, echoes as you wander through the Temperate House.

The Queer Voices project by Adam Nathaniel Furman features LGBTQ+ individuals in video interviews, exploring identities, representation, and nature's influence on creativity. Furman's installation challenges norms, celebrates plants as queer symbols, and encourages dialogue on identity and the natural world.

Kew Gardens will be hosting Queer Nature After Hours, offering an evening of queer entertainment amidst the lush foliage of the iconic Temperate House. Exclusive access to the Queer Nature exhibition awaits, providing a unique experience surrounded by some of the world's rarest and most endangered plants! The event, tailored for those over 18, promises music, cabaret, comedy, drag performances, talks, and an abundance of queer joy. This is a chance to see Kew in a whole new light—After Hours.

Queer Nature After Hours, is set to take place on 13, 14, 20, and 21 October 2023.

Date: 30 September- 29 October 2023. Location: Temperate House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Richmond TW9 3AE UK. Price: included with entry to the Gardens, from £19. concessions available. Book now.