Lotte Scott was commissioned in 2024 by the Mendip Hills National Landscape Team in partnership with Somerset Art Works. The project’s first phase, ‘Ash Viewing’, has been completed thanks to funding from Creative Mendip and the Henry Moore Foundation.
Somerset artist, Lotte Scott, constructed a kiln to make lime from Mendip limestone, creating a limewash that was used to cover an entire Ash tree felled due to Ash Dieback disease.
The ghostly tree was then installed as a temporary exhibition in a stone barn as part of Somerset Art Weeks 2024, before being turned into charcoal on site; creating a poignant artwork highlighting issues of environmental change and degradation, and raising awareness of the plight of Mendip’s Ash trees.
Ash Dieback leads to leaf loss and crown dieback, eventually killing the tree. The disease has led to decline of Ash trees across the country and in particular on Mendip. Nearly 1,000 species are associated with Ash trees in the UK and their loss poses a significant threat to biodiversity and landscape character, whilst also hampering efforts to reduce the impact of climate change.
The charcoaled remains of the tree are being exhibited by Scott as part of the After Nature exhibition – held at CLOSE Gallery in Somerset (13 September 2025 to 25 October 2025) and at Proposition in Bethnal Green, London (21 November 2025 to 14 February 2026).
Header photo: ‘Moving the Ash’ © Dave Watts.
Film by Tom Wade and Verity Elliot.
