Four Artspan artists study the relation between beauty and decay, death and life, and the natural world staking its claim in an urban setting.

LAURA BENNET

"Death in the garden is combined with human life, because it's all connected."

Laura Bennet's haunting photographs find the exquisite beauty in decay and examines the cycle of life in death.

Geranium

Two Roots

Poppy

Amaryllis

St. John's Wort

WILL HÜBSCHER

"Even when the flowers are nearing the end of their blooms, there is still beauty to be found in their decay. "

Will Hübscher lends bright new life to cut flowers by combining them with items lost and found and full of memories and meaning.

Lanterns

Icing and Vows

Electronic Garden

Artifice on Board

Peace

NESSIE RAMM

"I paint as I find in our mixed-up world; the divisions between urban and rural are not always easy to see. The tendrils of the city reach ever outwards via motorways and industrial estates, pylons and litter. But in turn the countryside reaches in; via urban farms, allotments, guerrilla gardening, and re-wilding." Nessie Ramm's beautifully detailed paintings explore the hopeful life found even in roundabouts and along the sides of highways.

Meadow at Cable Street

Poppies and Roses at Cable Street

Romanian Meadow

Allotment Chair

Summer in Our City

DEBORAH STEVENSON

Deborah Stevenson's botanical series breathes fresh life into myths, classical stories and works of art frozen in time.

Botanical Outing

Breugal's Bouquet

In the Garden With Degas

Botanical Fleur

Beatific Botanical