The Wayward Plant Registry occupied a vacant shopfront in January 2010 in Granville Arcade, a 1930s indoor market in Brixton, transforming a shop into a fog-filled, magical forest composed of discarded x-mas trees (living ones in pots, with roots). This x-mas tree drop-off shop, called ExXmas Forest, took in more than 30 living trees. Siting the halfway home in a marketplace of local sellers strengthened our dialogue about alternative forms of exchange (including the exchange of stories and ideas), in a dialogue about community, gardening, recycling, waste and local forests. The shop hosted picnics, performances and forest-themed readings. At the shop’s close, we organized a community planting day on the grounds of the temporary site of the local secondary school, Evelyn Grace Academy. (Other trees were adopted by the different shops throughout the market, including a fishmonger, bakery, fruit seller, sweet shop and thai kitchen.)
The project was produced by Heather Ring and Bill Ryley, with Alison Moffett, Antony Nelson, James Wilkes, Philip Hodgson, Julia Tcharfas, Susan Stainman, Orly Orbach, Anna Marie Yassin, Emma Stoner and many others. The project was hosted by Spacemakers Agency and was selected for a Meanwhile Project Showcase Prize. Photographs by Emma Stoner.
You can watch a clip of Mr. Solo’s performance here:
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Also check out our documentation of discarded and abandoned x-mas trees here – and please send your own!