Angela Marsh
Beloveds II

Beloveds II

Beloveds II is a creative project developed in collaboration with the botany of wastelands. The installation is composed of plant-sculptures made from the stems of wild plants harvested in late winter near L’Œil de Poisson. Each sculpture is anchored to the floor by hand-built ceramic bases finished with egg tempera glaze and natural pigments. These new plant-sculptures are presented alongside a selection from the first iteration of Beloveds, exhibited at the Grantham Foundation for Art and the Environment in spring 2026, forming an installation of approximately one hundred individual beings.

I am interested in phytoremediation, or “plant alchemy”: the ability of plants to absorb contaminants from soil and water by storing them in their roots or transforming them into less toxic compounds. According to the research I have conducted so far, all wild plants possess capacities for healing and care. Goldenrod, for example, removes microplastics, lead, and cadmium from the soil, while yarrow extracts arsenic and breaks down hydrocarbons. Other plants replenish nitrogen, strengthen biomass, or absorb road salt, embodying a multitude of forms of care. I share what I have learned about these plant collaborators in a booklet containing their biographies.

To introduce a temporal dimension to the installation and emphasize the life that follows entropy and the cyclical nature of living systems, I germinate seeds collected from the plants themselves. In doing so, I seek to honour the role of winter plants: ensuring the next generation and engaging in a reciprocal act of collaboration. After the exhibition, the young plants will be transplanted outdoors, where they can continue to grow and contribute to their ecosystems over the long term.

The word beloveds evokes a deep love for those we hold dear. Through this title, I invite visitors to consider these wild plants as our beloveds: members of an extended family, cherished beings that care for the earth and for us, and whom we, in turn, have a responsibility to respect and care for.

This project seeks to redefine labels such as “weed” while sharing new knowledge about these healing plants, these beings that quietly transform exhausted and contaminated places into oases of life. I wonder why the seed heads and dried stalks of wild plants in winter are so often perceived as “ugly” or “messy.” This culturally conditioned perception encourages the violent practice of cutting and clearing gardens in the fall in order to “clean up” our landscapes. Yet dried plants provide vital food sources for birds and small mammals throughout the winter. Their curled leaves and twisting seed pods also remind us of the fleeting beauty of life and the changing seasons. How might we learn to embrace an aesthetic that may not conform to conventional ideals of beauty, but that holds within it possibilities for hope, care, and flourishing?