Sculpture

 
 

I saw a sculpture at the Zaha Hadid-designed Maxxi Gallery in Rome, which inspired my Insectarium. Standing in one of the galleries was a length of curved wall constructed using strips of wood. I brought the idea to Suffolk where our house was being rebuilt and we had a pile of roofing battens left over. The strips of wood 25mm x 50mm are approximately 500mm long. I cut them all to the same length, dipped them in a water-based wood stainer and then piled them up, a little like playing a huge game of Jenga.

The wall is 20 metres in length and around two metres high and forms part of the enclosure of a rose garden. Within a day of starting work on the wall it became filled with beautiful beetles and bugs and spiders. In the winter it is home to thousands of bright red ladybirds and field mice.

Naturalist Richard Mabey has offered advice about a planting scheme and my hope is that this great curved wall will become draped with climbing plants. I’ll be adding more photographs through the seasons.