Deptford Pink


Installation at Mumfords Mill, Deptford , London. SE8
This installation was commissioned by the Laban Centre and Deptford X Festival.




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Two translucent banners 17mtrs x 3mtrs, printed with repeat images of Deptford Pink flower. Sited at a high level to maximise visibility and suggesting an association with sky, floating and ethereal existance.

The theme of the installation was the Deptford Pink, a wildflower that was once believed to have originated in Deptford. In fact the flower never grew in Deptford. and was wrongly labelled and identified by botanist Thomas Johnson as far back as the seventeenth century. The flower Dianthus Armeria has an international reputation for its beauty, but is little known in Deptford. It is a rare wildflower in this country and is listed as an endangered species with very few sites remaining.

The images were created to highlight the flower's intriguing history, its plight and to bring the pink flower to its rightful home. A flower that exists on the edge of survival. An endangered species, it is precarious, fragile and close to oblivion.