Green spaces are beneficial to mental health and general wellbeing. Yet, in Britain, 2.8 million people – one in four – live more than a ten-minute walk away from a public park. Vietnamese Spanish photographer Viet Ha Tran (b. 1981) wants to increase awareness of the importance of outdoor areas, especially in urban centres. Wall of Nature, part of the Aesthetica Art Prize 2023, unfolds like stills from a psychedelic daydream, flooding the frame with strong greens, oranges, pinks and purples. The series takes cues from the vertical gardens in front of CaixaForum, Madrid, one of the world’s most lush living walls. Over 250 individual species are represented in a mass of over 15,000 plants. “It resembles a piece of environmental graffiti as much as it is botanical.” The epic plot, which was designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc in 2008, demonstrates what can happen when we combine architecture, art and botany.

viethatran.com | @viethatranart

Image Credits:
1. Viet Ha Tran, Wall of Nature I (2019).
2. Viet Ha Tran, Wall of Nature XII (2019).
3. Viet Ha Tran, Wall of Nature XXI (2019).
4.Viet Ha Tran, Wall of Nature V (2019).
5. Viet Ha Tran, Wall of Nature XIII (2019).
6. Viet Ha Tran, Wall of Nature XXIII (2019).