Kew Gardens’ annual orchid festival is centred around the unique ecosystem of Peru in 2025 and is set to run until 3 February.
The display makes use of blooms of all shapes and colours throughout the Princess of Wales Conservatory to bring the space to life with flower installations and work from two Peruvian artists.
This year’s theme is centred around the South American country, showing off its plants, culture, and conservation efforts.
Visitors programme manager Gemma Holsgrove said: “This is a key opportunity for us to tell the stories of some of the incredible work that our scientists are doing.
“The festival is very much led by the science work we do.
“Peru is a key country for us, we work very closely with the country and also the community within the UK.”
Exhibitions like these showcase Kew’s scientific and botanical research, with visitors to the events directly supporting the work of scientists.
Dr Carolina Tovar is one of Kew’s Research Leaders, covering biogeography and ecosystems to document biodiversity.
She and her fellow scientists’ work is explained in a short film in a room tucked within the conservatory.
Dr Tovar said: “I don’t know how many people know how diverse Peru is, it has 105 different types of ecosystems and each area has its own flora and fauna.
“Despite the fact that we still don’t know all of it, the horticulture team have done a great job of representing the main areas which are the coast, the Andes and the Amazon.
“It’s important because it highlights that there is still so much that we don’t know, every year we discover more plants, animals, even mammals recently.
“There is so much that we don’t know and we can’t protect what we don’t know, so we want to raise awareness about that during this festival.”
Plaques all around teach visitors about the displays they are seeing, from a giant cornucopia overflowing next to a vicuña, representing Peru’s wealth of biodiversity, to a whale shark surrounded by white orchids after it became the first species of shark to be protected in the country in 2017.
The animal installations are made from as much plant material as possible, earmarked and pulled from Kew’s nurseries throughout the year.
The nurseries, alongside suppliers from the Netherlands, ensure that the conservatory is filled with flowers that bloom and sustain themselves throughout the month.
Hung from the ceiling and woven into arches, it is a truly immersive experience from top to bottom, and it is only bolstered by art from UK-based Peruvian creatives Mariano Vivanco and Gisella Stapleton.
Holsgrove said: “For the artwork and photographs around, we said, ‘let’s have a look at what artists are working in in the UK that are from Peru and make sure that we’re giving opportunities to different types of artists’.
“The Peruvian artistic and cultural community in London has been a joy to work with, and with Mariano and Gisella it’s been a match made in heaven.
“Mariano’s photography looks at these ancient civilizations and brings them to life through photography, which was a perfect match for what we wanted.
“Then I was thinking about art with a kind of real vibrancy and Peruvian flavour, and Gisella’s art really brings out the geometric shapes and patterns of Peruvian culture with a contemporary twist as well.”
Vivanco’s work primarily features in the first hall in the desert climate, showing off ancient societies, rituals, and Nazca lines through the Caral, Moche, and Inca civilisations.
Stapleton’s paintings burst with colour, with murals behind plants and three feature paintings depicting regional dancers with dresses inspired by orchid petals.
Their work, alongside the thousands of orchids on display, will be open until 2 March with select quiet sessions on Mondays and After Hours events with live music and performances, and anyone interested can find more information here.
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