For his exhibition if words were seeds, land artist JAPPA has created seven new artworks that span the Abbey’s historical outdoor and indoor garden spaces.

These new, site-specific works, use only materials foraged in and around the Abbey and are created using, leaves, stone, wood, mud, chalk, charcoal and fire. They offer a delicate interplay between natural found materials and the surrounding environment while radically reimagining the visitor’s experience of the gardens, creating moments of pause, reflection and meditation.

Working alongside head gardener Ali Marshal, JAPPA has created works that may only exist for a few days. Others that are more robust will exist until the elements and time wash them away: temporarily activating the environments with poetic, ephemeral gestures.

Artist Bio

JAPPA (aka Justin Pardon b.Oxford 1971)  is a nomadic artist whose practice over the past 30 years has focussed on creating visually striking outdoor artworks that both engage and disrupt the viewer’s experience of their environment and interaction with the natural world. His works vary in scale; from monumental sand designs to more intimate, almost invisible sculptural interventions. JAPPA’s  artworks are hand-crafted using only found materials and processes including stone, mud, charcoal, wood, ice, fire and leaves. Due to their location and materiality, the artworks may exist for ten minutes or a thousand years - offering a deep and meaningful sense of temporality.

Visitors can also view JAPPA’s  photographic works inside Torre Abbey, as well online where his archive is available on Pinterest: justinpardon01

A limited-edition handmade zine is available by donation at the Abbey shop.