IKEBANA INSTALLATION

Choreographical Honey (2026)

Ikebana Installation, yarrow, eucalyptus, hand-built vessels by Rescued Clay, size variable

Floral Creations, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, London

Could care be cultivated through collective action and shared knowledge? I am interested in the invisible choreographies that connect people, materials, and ecosystems, where small gestures of cooperation accumulate into something larger than any individual contribution. Through this work, I explore how shared acts of making become a form of ecological and social care.

The vessels were created with the clay caregivers of Rescued Clay, who transform discarded construction clay through collective making. Carrying the mineral memory of London's soil, the reclaimed material becomes a record of shared labour and renewal, revealing how value emerge through attention rather than extraction. Once considered waste, the clay is transformed through many hands into vessels of collective authorship. 

Inspired by the bees' waggle dance, I approach Ikebana as a choreographic practice. Through medicinal plants, I translate movement, rhythm, and communication into interrelationships between plant, vessel, human, and environment. The beehive-like vessels within a steel framework recalling the urban landscape create an architecture of cooperation, while hexagonal clay tiles inscribed with the caregivers' names acknowledge shared knowledge and contribution. 

Rooted in Ikebana principles, the installation becomes a living arrangement of relationships, exploring impermanence and the dialogue between presence and absence. Through shared knowledge and collective action, it unfolds as a choreography of connection, transformation, and regeneration.

Photos: © Miki Buckland. Courtesy of the artist

Clay caregivers of Rescued Clay: Adele, Alex, Andrea, Anupama, Arran, Avy, Heather, Hedy, Kaira, Kavery, Lara, Nikhita, Prashant, Sagal, Samira, Tim, Vishnu, and Yenny