My roots are in the north of England but I enjoy an occasional trip down to ‘the smoke’ as London used to be called. Fortunately there is far less smoke than 50+ years ago but the same can’t be said for air pollution nor particulates around major roads. We walked from Kings Cross along Euston Road to the Wellcome Collection and the ‘rooted beings’ exhibition. Breathing in the fumes caused some coughing and spluttering on the way so subsequently we walked through back streets seeing another side of London. Whilst the air was not as fresh as Ilkley Moor it was OK particularly when we stopped in Russel Square garden.

About Rooted Being Exhibition Free until 29th August 2022

• ‘Plants sustain life on earth. They are sensitive, complex and interconnected beings, playing surprisingly active roles in ecosystems and human societies’  wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions
• ‘The exhibition reimagines our relationship with plants and fungi, exploring what we can learn from plant behaviour and how we can rethink the significance of plants beyond simply resources for human consumption. The curatorial team have brought together works from the Wellcome Collection’s archive of botanical illustrations with artists’ commissions to form an open-ended narrative about vegetal life in the context of the climate crisis, from the perspective of environmental and social justice’. Anna Souter
• In addition to the Wellcome Trusts usual medical information the  contemporary ‘rooted’ project in the main gallery includes art work,  botanical illustrations, a fifth century Papyrus and a 19th-century study of fungi.
• Mandrake, Brugsmania and hallucinogenic plants are covered in a free brochure about the work of Patricia Dominguez
• Two of my favourite exhibits included a large wrack sculpture and lobster pots filled with construction and plastic waste.
• Not a massive exhibition but  the subject is dwarfed by hidden meanings notably a holistic view about plants and the consequences of human interaction with the natural world.