GLOBAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SUPPORTED THROUGH AMAZING MEADOW OF RAINBOW COLOURED FLOWERS

The Jersey Zoo has already embraced summer on the little island of Jersey, which is tucked away in the English Channel. However, something more surprising has also emerged at the zoo in addition to the usual blooms: a vibrant meadow with about 5,000 flowers made of plant fibres and eco-renewable recycled castor oil. In the year that would have been Gerald Durrell's 100th birthday, the piece, appropriately named Bloom and created by British artist Stuart Semple, pays a moving homage to the zoo's founder and well-known conservationist.

Bloom features six flower species that are among Durrell's favourites: chrysanthemums, freesias, roses, scarlet pimpernel, crocuses, and pink magnolias. These flowers are arranged in a rainbow grid that measures 7 by 7 meters, or roughly 23 by 23 feet.

“I know Gerry would’ve loved to see this meadow pop up in the courtyard of his cherished Les Augres Manor, where he lived for so many years. The [installation] is symbolic of the various members of the Durrell community, from donors and staff to visitors and global supporters," said Durrell’s honorary director, Lee Durrell, in a statement.

The flowers in Bloom, each painstakingly hand-painted and created to remind its viewer of the beauty of nature and the crucial need, as Durrell felt, of preserving it, peek out during the day with their colourful petals. Using the artist's exclusive "Lit" glow-in-the-dark paint as a final layer, Semple's flowers are just as vibrant at night, giving off a gentle haze. When seen as a whole, the surreal meadow is a natural and vibrant tribute to ecological responsibility, particularly in light of the growing climate disaster, as well as to Durrell's environmentalist vision.

"This project holds great significance for me, as I have a special place in my heart for the Jersey Zoo, which I first visited when I was eight years old," Semple said of Bloom. "You can probably agree that Gerry's ecology, philosophy, and conservation are more important to the earth now than they have ever been."

Bloom takes the concept of artistic accessibility to the next level by selling these limited-edition blooms, even if a large portion of Semple's work centres on this idea. All sales of the flowers, whether singly and in a bouquet, go directly towards the Durrell Trust's worldwide effort to prevent the extinction of species. The Durrell Trust states that "the simple act of buying a flower has the ability to influence change and promote worldwide animal conservation." 

"This is your opportunity to support Durrell's incredible work and help species and environments," Semple continues.