Life Support
On 23rd March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announced that the population must remain at home. Contact with those outside one’s household was prohibited, and daily life was limited to essential errands, exercise, and medical care.
In the weeks that followed, Townsend, based in central Cardiff, began a daily walk through the local park. In the Roath district, a network of connected green spaces allowed up to an hour of continuous movement through the city. After a long winter, early spring flowers gradually came into bloom. As everyday life slowed, focus settled on these small, recurring changes, watching wildflowers open and close, marking time day by day.
At the same time, this access to green space stood in contrast to those living in dense urban conditions without it, without this essential “life support.” Wildflowers were documented through photography and video, and later reconstructed in beeswax. Over time, the sculptures became a personal record of this period and the conditions it imposed.
The flowers are isolated within air-filled glass forms, preserving them while enclosing them. Twisted roots and curling leaves suggest anxiety and restriction. The works form a series, connected yet separate, held close but unable to touch, holding both calm and unease.
The Life Support series asks what is needed to sustain life, and who has access to those conditions. It points to what is protected, what is overlooked, and what becomes visible in moments of crisis, foregrounding the fragility and resilience of the natural world within the context of the Anthropocene.
Life Support, March 2020: Primrose, Primula vulgaris
Growing in grassy places, woods and hedges, flowering before the trees come into leaf and shade the ground. A final visit to a friend’s house before lockdown. Her lawn filled with primrose. On my walk in the park, I begin to notice them everywhere. Hundreds of primroses. With each one, I think of her.
Materials – Beeswax and paraffin wax, tinned copper wire, silk fabric, tissue paper, cotton thread, artists’ pigments, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. Mounted on a solid, custom CNC lathed 304 stainless-steel base, inside a hand-blown glass orb.
Dimensions – Approx. Ø33cm
Date – 2020
Life Support, April 2020: Wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa
Woodland, copses, scrub, hedgerows. One of the first flowers of spring, scattered across the forest floor. The roads of the city are quiet and the skies are clear. I hear the rushing water of the stream beside the bank of flowers, and birds singing.
Materials – Beeswax and paraffin wax, tinned copper wire, silk fabric, tissue paper, cotton thread, artists’ pigments, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. Mounted on a solid, custom CNC lathed 304 stainless-steel base, inside a hand-blown glass orb.
Dimensions – Approx. Ø36cm
Date – 2020
Life Support, May 2020: Dog violet, Viola riviniana
Deciduous woodland, grassy heaths, old pastures and chalk downs. I spot deep bluish violet flowers growing just behind the park railings next to the pavement. I have been waiting all winter for them. Soon there are more, in my own garden, growing between the cracks in the patio.
Materials – Beeswax and paraffin wax, tinned copper wire, silk fabric, tissue paper, cotton thread, artists’ pigments, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. Mounted on a solid, custom CNC lathed 304 stainless-steel base, inside a hand-blown glass orb.
Dimensions – Approx. Ø21cm
Date – 2020
Life Support, June 2020: Forget-me-not, Myosotis arvensis
Dry habitats, arable soils and dunes. Tiny blue flowers tinged with pink fill the park and my mum’s front garden, where we sit on the wall at a distance and talk.
Materials – Beeswax and paraffin wax, tinned copper wire, silk fabric, tissue paper, cotton thread, artists’ pigments, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. Mounted on a solid, custom CNC lathed 304 stainless-steel base, inside a hand-blown glass orb.
Dimensions – Approx. Ø34cm
Date – 2020
Life Support, July 2020: Pyramid Orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis
Grassy habitats, rough unimproved meadows and pastures, banks and roadsides. As restrictions ease, I travel further afield to an industrial site where pink pyramid orchid spikes grow tall and slender beneath the sails of a wind turbine.
Materials – Beeswax and paraffin wax, tinned copper wire, silk fabric, tissue paper, cotton thread, artists’ pigments, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. Mounted on a solid, custom CNC lathed 304 stainless-steel base, inside a hand-blown glass orb.
Dimensions – Approx. Ø28cm
Date – 2020
Life Support, February 2021: Snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis
Damp woodland habitats. After the darkest of winters, snowdrops slowly emerge along the valley road as we continue our weekly journey delivering groceries to loved ones. They have received their first vaccines.
Materials – Beeswax and paraffin wax, tinned copper wire, silk fabric, tissue paper, cotton thread, artists’ pigments, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. Mounted on a solid, custom CNC lathed 304 stainless-steel base, inside a hand-blown glass orb.
Dimensions – Approx. Ø20cm
Date – 2021
Life Support, May 2021: Lesser Celandine, Ficaria verna
Deciduous woodland, damp grassy habitats, stream and river margins. Flowers bright, glistening yellow, opening only on fine days. More than a year has passed. Life is opening up again, but I am still walking the pathways of my local park, eyes down, looking for celandines.
Materials – Beeswax and paraffin wax, tinned copper wire, silk fabric, tissue paper, cotton thread, artists’ pigments, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. Mounted on a solid, custom CNC lathed 304 stainless-steel base, inside a hand-blown glass orb.
Dimensions – Approx. Ø20cm
Date – 2021