The Chelsea Fringe Festival, 2012

A gallery of photographs from my tour of Chelsea Fringe Gardens. The Fringe, in its inaugural year, is a new garden festival, directed journalist and author, Tim Richardson.

From their website :

“The Chelsea Fringe festival is a brand new initiative, entirely volunteer-run in its first year. It’s all about harnessing and spreading some of the excitement and energy that fizzes around gardens and gardening. The idea is to give people the freedom and opportunity to express themselves through the medium of plants and gardens, to open up possibilities and to allow full participation.  Entirely independent of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (though acting with its support), the Fringe will explode out of the showground geographically, demographically and conceptually. It will range from grassroots community garden projects to avant-garde art installations. Our open-access principle means that just about anything goes – as long as it’s interesting and on the subject of gardens, flowers, veg-growing or landscape”.

19.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival: The Edible High Road, Chiswick. Left: Devonshire Road, Right: Turnham Green Terrace

19.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival: The Edible High Road, Chiswick. Left: Devonshire Road, Right: Turnham Green Terrace

The Bicycle Beer Garden team - taking a break at The Edible Bus Stop.

The Bicycle Beer Garden team - taking a break at The Edible Bus Stop.

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival, Floating Forest on Grand Union Canal at Portobello Dock.

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival, Floating Forest on Grand Union Canal at Portobello Dock.

21.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival - Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

21.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival - Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

Chelsea Fringe 2012: Left: Deborah Nagan, designer of The Garden of Disorientation. Right: Julia Barton, artist, maker of the Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant.

Chelsea Fringe 2012: Left: Deborah Nagan, designer of The Garden of Disorientation. Right: Julia Barton, artist, maker of the Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant.

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Idler'€™s Grove - A medieval herber with odoriferous herbs

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Idler'€™s Grove - A medieval herber with odoriferous herbs

Left: The Edible Bus Stop team. Right: Julia Barton, artist, maker of the Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant, outside The Serpentine Gallery

Left: The Edible Bus Stop team. Right: Julia Barton, artist, maker of the Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant, outside The Serpentine Gallery

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Garden of Disorientation - Unlikely scented garden in a former slaughterhouse. Wall mural detail.

20.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Garden of Disorientation - Unlikely scented garden in a former slaughterhouse. Wall mural detail.

Chelsea Fringe, 26.5.12 - 'Reliable Utopias' artist Elisabetta Buffa, with her installation at Exchange Square near Liverpool Street

Chelsea Fringe, 26.5.12 - 'Reliable Utopias' artist Elisabetta Buffa, with her installation at Exchange Square near Liverpool Street

21.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Wish Trees of Chelsea, Dovehouse Green, Dovehouse Street, London

21.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Wish Trees of Chelsea, Dovehouse Green, Dovehouse Street, London

21.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival - Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

21.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival - Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

Julia Barton with her Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant. Outside The Serpentine Gallery on her journey to the Chelsea Flower Show.

Julia Barton with her Heavy Plant Crossing or mechanical plant. Outside The Serpentine Gallery on her journey to the Chelsea Flower Show.

Chelsea Fringe 2012. Left: Oranges and Lemons Garden at St Leonard's, Shoreditch. Right: Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

Chelsea Fringe 2012. Left: Oranges and Lemons Garden at St Leonard's, Shoreditch. Right: Pop-up Flower Shop at COS in Brompton Road, London - A collaboration between Clifton Nurseries and COS

20.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival: The Mojito bar at The Garden of Disorientation - an unlikely scented garden in a former slaughterhouse.

20.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival: The Mojito bar at The Garden of Disorientation - an unlikely scented garden in a former slaughterhouse.

19.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden,

19.5.12, Chelsea Fringe Festival, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall at the Geffrye Museum, 30.5.12 - planting up a herb container.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall at the Geffrye Museum, 30.5.12 - planting up a herb container.

21.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Left: Pimp Your Pavement - London, near Elephant and Castle. Right: Pimp Your Pavement - Globe Street near Elephant and Castle

21.5.12, First Chelsea Fringe Festival - Left: Pimp Your Pavement - London, near Elephant and Castle. Right: Pimp Your Pavement - Globe Street near Elephant and Castle

Tony Heywood & Alison Condie's underground landscape installation for Cityscapes Garden Festival, at the Old Vic Theatre tunnels, London. Not part of The Chelsea Fringe, but acknowledged in the same spirit on the Fringe website. http://www.chelseafringe.com/underground-performance-at-the-old-vic-tunnels/

Tony Heywood & Alison Condie's underground landscape installation for Cityscapes Garden Festival, at the Old Vic Theatre tunnels, London. Not part of The Chelsea Fringe, but acknowledged in the same spirit on the Fringe website.

Tony Heywood & Alison Condie’s underground landscape installation 

 

 

 

Gardeners’ Hands

In December 2008 I started a project which evolved into set of images called 43 Gardeners’ Hands. This was exhibited at Kew through the summer of 2009. Four more photographs were taken just after the exhibition deadline, and as a result were never exhibited. So, clockwise from top left: Dan Hinckley, Tim Richardson, Rosemary Alexander and Will Giles.

Gardeners' hands, Dan Hinckley, Rosemary Alexander, Tim Richardson, Will Giles

Gardeners' hands, clockwise from top left: Dan Hinckley, Tim Richardson, Rosemary Alexander and Will Giles