Artist. Educator. Gardener. Based in London, UK.
Tracey’s interdisciplinary practice explores concepts around nature & culture, particularly human-environment relations. She holds a BA in Fine Art (Bradford College of Art & Design) and an MA in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography (London College of Communication). Her work has been exhibited in art galleries and public spaces, in the UK and internationally, plus she’s held artist-in-residence positions in a number of diverse institutions. She also works with non-profit organisations as a workshop facilitator, using photography to empower vulnerable communities and to promote wellbeing.
An insightful path into horticulture has led to maintaining some high-profile gardens including Chelsea Physic Garden, Chiswick House Kitchen Garden, Royal Trinity Hospice, plus an historic garden in the Nanzen-ji monastery compound (Kyoto, Japan). Alongside undertaking artist-gardener residencies at Grizedale Arts (Cumbria), Monet’s Garden (Giverny, France) and The Grange Projects (Norfolk) and planting the RHS Piet Oudolf show garden (Hampton Court Flower Show). She’s completed formal studies with the RHS and, funded by RHS and Merlin Trust bursaries, an intensive course at the Research Centre for Japanese Garden Art & Historic Heritage (Kyoto University of Art & Design) and forest garden design with Martin Crawford (Agroforestry Research Trust, Devon). Her report on the latter was awarded The Christopher Brickell Prize 2023, by the Merlin Trust.
Constantly searching for parallels between her practice and the garden, both of which are continuously shifting realms and a web of complex, interdependent entanglements, she weaves together garden history with counterculture, stories about individual plants, artists’ gardens, ecology and indigenous approaches to sustainable and reciprocal cultivation.
AWARDS | FUNDING | RECOGNITION:
2024 Thistledown Horticultural Bursary, Tresco Abbey Garden.
2023 The Christopher Brickell Prize, The Merlin Trust.
2021 UK-Study Travel Bursary, The Merlin Trust.
2020 Emergency Response Fund, Arts Council England.
2018 RHS Bursary (attendance at JGHH Seminar, Kyoto University of Art & Design).
2018 International Travel Bursary, The Merlin Trust (as above).
2014 Shortlisted: Jerwood/Photoworks Award 2015.
2014 Shortlisted: FORMAT EXPOSURE Open Call 2015, Derby.
2014 Shortlisted: OPEN14, Brighton Photo Fringe.
2014 Selected: Fresh Faced+Wild Eyed, The Photographers’ Gallery, London.
2008 Winner: Rodchenko Photography Competition. Selected by The Hayward Gallery curators.
1999 Winner: B&W Portrait Photographer of the Year. Sponsored by Ilford.
COMMISSIONS | RESIDENCIES:
2023/24 Artist-gardener-in-residence, The Grange Projects, Norfolk.
2022 Artist-gardener-in-residence, Grizedale Arts, Coniston, Cumbria.
2019 Munn Scholarship, Foundation Claude Monet, Giverny, France.
2008 Stoke Mandeville Hospital (28 permanent artworks). Commissioned by Willis Newson.
2004 Photographer-in-residence Leading the Way – Royal Gloucestershire Hospital. Commissioned by Willis Newson.
2001 Artist-in-residence Artbridge – Tower Bridge Care Centre, London. Commissioned by Paintings in Hospitals.
SOCIALLY ENGAGED PROJECTS:
2023 A Video History of Rectory Gardens, Studio Voltaire in partnership with Spectacle Media (part of Unearthed: Collective Histories supported by Historic England).
2022 Botany Bay, Chiswick House & Gardens, National Lottery Heritage Fund.
2011-Present Photography Facilitator (various projects), Create (Arts) Ltd.
2015-16 Photographer & Educator, Green Candle Dance Company.
2013-14 Irish Voices, Irish in Britain.
2011-12 Irreversible Materiality, Green Candle Dance Company.
2012 Photography Workshop Facilitator, Big Dance Hub Lewisham.
2010-12 Photography Educator, Helen Bamber Foundation.
2008 Culture Collective_Street Genius, LNDSNF_40, London Sinfionietta.
2007 Urban Feasts, Croydon Council.
2007 Inspire! Allchange Arts.
2006 Playing God, Allchange Arts/Sadler’s Wells (Wellcome Trust Pulse Award).
2005 Welcome to our World, Allchange Arts.
2005 Flow, Allchange Arts.
2004 Skindeep, Allchange Arts/Sadler’s Wells (Wellcome Trust Pulse Award).
2001 Talking Pictures, Allchange Arts.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2023 Good Things: A Video History of Rectory Gardens, Studio Voltaire, London.
2018 Other, Tate Exchange, London.
2017 Seeing Sound, Humble Arts Foundation.
2016 BanglaHop! Oxford House Gallery, Bethnal Green, London.
2015 Moving Gallery, Greenwich World Cultural Festival, Eltham Palace, London (GDA).
2014 OPEN14 (shortlist), Brighton Photo Fringe, The Regency Townhouse, Brighton.
2014 Fresh Faced + Wild Eyed, The Photographers’ Gallery, London. [Press Release]
2014 Concrete Collective Showcase, National Scientific Library, Tbilisi.
2014 Irish Voices, City Hall, London.
2014 AusZeiten & Räumen, AFF Galerie, Berlin.
2013 RIOT, Doomed Gallery, London.
2014 Never Seeing Nothing, Nursery Gallery, London.
2012 Still Moving, City Hall, London (Siobhan Davies Dance Project for Big Dance).
2012 Irreversible Materiality (solo show), Oxford House Gallery, Bethnal Green, London.
2012 Photography Open Salon, Galerie Huit, Arles, France (projection show).
2011 Moving Gallery Revisited, Greenwich Dances, London (Greenwich Dance Agency).
2010 Moving Gallery, 02 Arena, London (Greenwich Dance Agency for Big Dance).
2010 What is England? Curated by Stuart Pilkington.
2008 JPPS Exhibition, Koto-ku “Bunka” Center, Tokyo, Japan.
2008 AIR, Morley Gallery, London.
2008 Rodchenko Photography Competition (Winner), Hayward Gallery, London.
2005 Welcome to Our World, Byam Shaw Art Gallery, London.
2005 Flow, Byam Shaw Art Gallery, London.
2004 Leading the Way, Royal Gloucestershire Hospital, Gloucester.
2001 Artbridge, Sheridan Russell Gallery, Mayfair, London.
2001 Talking Pictures, Rose Court Residential Care Home, Hackney, London.
1999 Focus, NEC, Birmingham.
1998 Destinations, Olympia, London.
EDUCATION:
2012 MA Photojournalism & Documentary Photography (Distinction), LCC, UAL, London.
2008 City & Guilds, Artist-in-Residence, Morley College, London.
1993 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Bradford College of Art & Design, W. Yorks.