Holy botany – island illustrator off to Kew Gardens for major exhibit

Acclaimed Waiheke illustrator Sue Wickison worked around the clock this week to finish her final painting before flying to London to open her Plants of the Qur’an exhibition at the world-famous Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on Saturday 1 April.

Eighteen-hour days have been typical in the run-up to the show, as Sue finalised illustrations ranging from tiny mustard seeds to majestic palms, before flying out on Tuesday.

Speaking to Gulf News before her departure, Sue laughed and said she still has to pinch herself to check she isn’t dreaming. “I suppose I can’t quite believe it because I live in such a remote area, beautiful Waiheke, but remote and so it’s quite a solitary profession. You dip out with other people, but to suddenly be going to London, I can’t quite believe it.”

Thirty of Sue’s large paintings will be displayed alongside preliminary drawings at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art until September 17. The major exhibition is a culmination of Sue’s six-year search for accurate reference for the plants mentioned in the Qur’an, in collaboration with author Dr Shahina Ghazanfar, Middle East plant expert and senior botanist at Kew.

For Sue this has meant self-funded travel to countries including the United Arab Emirates –from the Empty Quarter in Abu Dhabi to the deserts of Sharjah and remote mountain farms in Oman – to see heritage plants grown there for generations. Observing the plants in their natural habitat is key to ensuring accuracy and autheniticity when recording minute details and colour nuances, she says.

Sue, who was born and brought up in Sierra Leone, says plants have been her life since childhood, when she would explore the bush, collecting plant specimens with her father. She went on to get a BA with Honours in Scientific Illustration from Middlesex University, before working at the Kew Herbarium for almost 10 years, illustrating grasses, legumes and orchids, one of which was named after her following a two-year Winston Churchill Fellowship collecting the flowering plants in the Solomon Islands.

Returning to exhibit at Kew is something of a homecoming, and comes ahead of the publication of Plants of the Qur’an – History and Culture by publisher Royal Botanical Gardens Kew in mid-2023. The exhibition was a bolt from the blue, says Sue. Her invite from Kew came just before Christmas.

“It’s all been a bit if a rush because normally you would get about a year’s lead-in time, but it’s been really good because it sort of focuses the mind,” she said. “The work was almost done, but I still had pieces to finish.”

Sue’s hand-painted watercolour studies will show in tandem with Pakistani-American artist Anila Quayyum Agha, whose large, laser-cut steel cube
will be suspended from the atrium ceiling and is inspired by patterns in Islamic art and architecture. Together their art explores faith and cultural connection by exploring the natural world.

Sue’s own involvement with Plants of the Qur’an was sparked by a visit to the Sheikh Zayad Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. “They had botanical and floral
designs all over the floor, all over the columns, it’s quite different from the geometric shapes,” she said. “Making some enquiries, there was no information about the plants in the mosque and then I wanted to find out about the plants in the Holy Qur’an and so that started this whole project.”

Sue says working with Dr Ghazanfar on the project has been inspiring, with her vast knowledge of plants of the Middle East. “All the way through it’s been cooperation, enthusiasm, people have inspired me, people have helped me,” she said. “I always work from the living material,that was the point of travelling; there’s authenticicity to it, attention to detail.

“It’s also finding varieties that have been growing for generations so you have got the sustainability and heritage varieties and that’s important.”
It is the first time this collection of plants has been illustrated in a cohesive manner by a single artist and pulled together in a body of work and Sue says she couldn’t have done it without help and support.

“At the moment I am totally in awe and humbled by it, excitedand every so often I stop and think ‘yes, it’s true’,” she says. “It couldn’t be any better than exhibiting at Kew,” says Sue. “It is non-political and it is highly respected around the world for research and collections, so I am extremely lucky to be offered the opportunity.” Sue’s exhibition will run until 17 September. For more information go to Sue’s website at suewickison.com.