With love, from an invader. Rhododendrons, Empire, China and Me

This book is a love letter to Britain’s most hated non-native invasive plant - the Rhododendron ponticum. Every other day from 17 March 2020 to 16 March 2021, the award-winning photographer Yan Wang Preston walked and photographed one love-heart-shaped Rhododendron ponticum bush in Burnley, Lancashire. This led to the creation of two art series: With Love. From an Invader. (in collaboration with Monty Adkins) and Autumn Winter Sprint Summer. The period also marked the beginning of her intensive study towards this contested habitat and its complex history. Building on from her artworks and field report, the book artfully interweaves 10 essays from leading scholars, curators and local residents, as well as two archival collections from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The result is an intimate and multi-layered exploration towards the positive contribution of such non-native species in Britain’s contemporary ecology. Meanwhile, a re-trace of the rhododendron’s colonialism-assisted migration as well as a personal connection between the Chinese-British photographer and the plants help to underpin the potential harmful paring of the two terms ‘non-native’ and ‘invasive’. As a result, the book uses the rhododendrons as a metaphor for human migrants and asks for a more empathetic acceptance for a cosmopolitan natural and cultural ecology without prejudice towards the non-natives.

The book is edited by Yan Wang Preston, with co-editors Emma Nicolson (Head of Visual Arts, Creative Scotland) and Alan Elliott (Biodiversity Conservation Network Manager, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh).

Softback, 320 pages