The artist Luke Jerram on the tree-planting project he’ll never see finished | Art

Luke Jerram, whose art installations have traveled the world, is philosophical about his latest project which will bear fruit beyond his time on Earth.

Known for his Play Me I’m Yours street pianos project and his Museum of the Moon artwork – a seven meter diameter moon sculpture featuring detailed NASA images of the lunar surface – Jerram is currently working on Echo Wood, a living, breathing installation made from native British trees.

Planted this winter in Somerset’s Chew Valley, in collaboration with the charity Avon Needs Trees, the 365 trees – crabapples, hawthorns and oaks – will slowly grow to form a vast 110 meter wide design and will take a century to fully emerge, long after Jerram is gone.

“In 50 to 100 years I won’t be here,” says Jerram, 50, next to a model of the project in his Bristol studio. “I’m at a point in my career where I’m starting to look forward, I’m not looking back.

“I’m 50, maybe it’s a mid-life crisis. I’ve got up to 900 exhibitions now. Forty countries around the world and the artwork is in about 80 museums. So you suddenly start thinking about legacy projects and the fact that I can’t maintain this level of energy.

“I guess there’s something quite nice about looking into the future, which is quite exciting.”

The living sculpture will be part of Lower Chew Forest, which, at 422 acres and 100,000 trees, will be one of the largest new forests in England when completed.

Paths and avenues, flowering at different times of the year, will be created to guide visitors to Echo Wood on a journey through the forest to a central circular gathering space, formed by 12 English oak trees.

As with many of his projects, Jerram wants this central space to encourage creativity. “This will form an event space. It can be used for weddings or educational activities, music, poetry, etc.,” he says.

Jerram’s other works, which often touch on themes of nature and the climate emergency, include: Gaia, a seven-meter diameter sculpture of the Earth using NASA imagery; Helios, a sculpture of the Sun using detailed solar images to recreate its surface; and Tipping Point, a simulated wildfire combining smoke, lights and sounds.

Echo Wood is perhaps the closest representation of these themes, symbolizing the fight against climate change. “It’s a way of doing something physically. Using creativity to inspire the general public, but also helping to use trees to raise some money and create a legacy,” explains Jerram. “What art can do is communicate messages in a different language that can then reach people in a slightly different way.

“I often collaborate with scientists, but also with charities on how to communicate their ideas. »

Despite the worrying lack of progress in tackling the climate crisis, Jerram says he is “still hopeful” even if he finds “crossing tipping points” scary.

“There’s this lovely comic illustration of a doctor with a slightly sick Earth in front of him in the doctor’s chair,” says Jerram. “Earth says, ‘I’m afraid we’re facing a nasty infection of humans right now.’ The doctor said, “Don’t worry, it will pass soon.”

“We are just the latest invasive species.”

The wood from his latest work will ultimately be sustainably harvested and used for educational and creative projects, before the trees are replanted to then continue the cycle of life.

“I like the idea of ​​what you can then do with the wood: turning the oak into playground equipment for the city’s schools, or creating a boat or musical instruments for the city’s children,” says Jerram.

Businesses and individuals can sponsor individual trees to raise funds for Avon Needs Trees, which runs a number of tree planting projects in the area.

“Located in the heart of a brand new forest, Echo Wood is a symbol of optimism for us and future generations: with a little thought, creativity and determination, we can tackle the climate and nature crises we face,” said Dave Wood, Managing Director of Avon Needs Trees. “Not quite a message in a bottle but a message in wood, water and sunlight.

“We want as many people as possible to think about creative ways to respond to the climate and nature crises we face. By working with Luke, we are able to engage a whole new set of people who might not otherwise make the trip to the countryside to see the work we are doing to increase forest cover in a severely deforested part of the country.”