RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW, 2022
Hands Off Mangrove
Grow to Know brings activism to RHS Chelsea Flower Show
An RHS Chelsea Flower Show debut for Grow to Know, the Hands Off Mangrove garden made a stand to unite two prominent issues – the global environmental deforestation of mangrove forests, and the local social injustice of the Mangrove Nine, Notting Hill.
A deforested mangrove, corten sculpture at the centre of the garden signifies a stark reminder of the impacts we have on our planet’s most important ecosystems, both in the wild, and at home - locally and globally.
"Hands Off Mangrove" a banner put up on the Mangrove - a Caribbean restaurant on All Saints Road - at a time which saw the community take a stand against the hostility, brutality and injustice endured at the Mangrove, at the hands of the police, since opening in 1968. 150 locals would gather to march from the Mangrove to the police station - standing side by side with who were then soon dubbed as the Mangrove Nine who were subsequently charged with incitement to riot and affray following the protest.
Honouring each Mangrove Nine member, nine corten steel roots of the deforested tree navigate themselves into mother earth, reaching into the ground amongst the biodiversity of the garden. The Mangrove Nine's names are to be remembered:
Darcus Howe, Frank Crichlow, Rhodan Gordan, Althea Jones-LeCointe, Barbara Beese, Godfrey Miller, Rupert Glasgow Boyce, Anthony Carlisle Innis and Rothwell Kentish.
The trial ended on Thursday 16 December 1971 and it wasn’t so much the result, as the closing remarks of the judge, that placed the Mangrove Nine in the history books. All the defendants were acquitted of the main charges of incitement to riot. “What this trial has shown is that there is clearly evidence of racial hatred on both sides,” the judge told the courtroom, evoking and accelerating much needed learning and change within the police institution at the time.
Mangroves are home to ecosystems of coexistence, sanctuaries to a rich mosaic of wildlife. There's something to be said about the synergy and symmetry of how the Mangrove in Notting Hill was a safe hub for people from all walks of life to coexist.
Hands Off Mangrove embodies how a community garden can offer ideas, solutions and joy to people and planet. To be relocated in Tavistock Gardens on All Saints Road, Notting Hill, the garden is to be a permanent and public space, filled with nature, to raise awareness to important local and global social and environmental challenges to guide us into taking more cohesive steps forward.
Grow to Know's presence at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022 would signify the start of a journey as a call to action for a bridge to be built with the local community of North Kensington - both located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea - and the birthplace of Grow to Know.
PARTNERS
Project Giving Back, Cleve West, Humaira Ikram, TLC, Rob Olins, The White Wall Co, Hortus Loci, W Communications
AWARDS & MEDIA
The Guardian 1
The Guardian 2
The Independent
RHS
House & Garden
The Voice
PR Week Awards finalists