bōc: trees, time and wisdom

We celebrate our gnarled, ancient trees as things of great beauty, embodying centuries of experience, wisdom and power.

So why on earth - as humans - do we view our own ageing bodies so differently?

In a world overflowing with filters, fillers, lotions, potions, and the universal expectation that we should look eternally smooth and young, artists Anne Waggot and Frances Ross spirit us away on a woodland journey of wisdom, folklore, beauty and empowerment.

So many of today’s challenges are rooted in our profound disconnection from nature. Can connecting with these matriarchal trees teach us to love the way we ourselves change as we progress through life? Anne’s drawings, prints and installations and Frances’ ceramic sculptures offer ways for visitors of all ages to rethink how we see the natural world, and how we see ourselves.

Bōc is an old English word for beech tree and also for book, as documents were hewn onto thin slivers of beech wood before paper was invented. A word that holds wisdom in more ways than one.