Chelsea Embankment, London
Chelsea Embankment: Because, Emma Smith
Year
2018-2022
Client
fereday pollard for Tideway
Artist
Emma Smith
Service
Commission Management
Location
Nine Elms Lane,
Battersea, London
A collaged 2D visual garden for the hoarding at Chelsea Embankment
Emma Smith created a collaged 2D visual garden for the hoarding at Chelsea Embankment, using plants selected by the Chelsea Pensioners. Residing at the Royal Hospital Chelsea (RHC), the Chelsea Pensioners are retired soldiers of the British Army, whose iconic and distinct scarlet uniform marks a 300-year tradition and is instantly recognisable at the parades, special visits and events they attend.
The plants evoke memories and stories of place for the Pensioners and, wherever possible, Smith photographed the actual plants they referenced, as well as features, from the RHC grounds; a Grade I and II listed site founded by King Charles II. The approach and attention to detail is the same as that given to a live 3D garden, whilst being deliberately fantastical.
“It’s absolutely beautiful. Flowers and plants are like music – even if it’s from a long time ago, it evokes the meaning of when you first heard it. [Because] is like that.”
Behind the plants lie personal stories: the places and people that have been important to the Pensioners and the plants that remind them. For Arthur Currie, sunflowers recall his experience of kindness during service in the Gulf War: “I was the first In-Pensioner who fought in the Gulf War. In the lead-up, strangers sent things out to us, out of kindness. In one of the letters was a packet of sunflower seeds with soil. I got an ammunition box and used some of my valuable water supply to grow sunflowers in the desert. I even had them on the tanks. Some grew as high as 3ft!”
The metaphor of the plant is at the heart of human relationships – of having roots – the important connections that often lie invisible beneath the surface. A strong metaphor also for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, which will remain mostly unseen while improving biodiversity and life for all above.
The artwork was taken down in 2022 when the hoarding was relocated.
“It has been a real pleasure working with the pensioners at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and to learn of their stories, memories and interests that have been so generously contributed to this project. I would like to thank everyone involved and will cherish the stories shared with me through this work.”
Emma Smith is one of the leading social practice artists in the UK; a practice that can be in any artform and involves people and communities in debate, collaboration or social interaction.
Smith has delivered hundreds of projects for clients across the world, working with hundreds of thousands of participants. Previous commissioners include Tate Modern, Barbican, Whitechapel Gallery, Camden Arts Centre, ICA, The Showroom, Whitworth Art Gallery, Tramway, Bluecoat, Arnolfini, and Kettles Yard, with international projects in Australia, Canada, the Canadian Arctic, China, Demark, India, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. She regularly creates work in the public realm and her book Practice of Place is published by Bedford Press (2015).
For more information see:
www.tideway.london