Understorey

‘It began as a way of drawing nothing – as near as I could get to that. No time to think – just drop down and draw whatever was growing there’

In gardens, verges or clustered around municipal lampposts, weeds offer an everyday wildness to even the most urban setting. But what is the story of these familiar plants that accompany our every step, yet pass beneath our notice?

How and when do they emerge, bloom and subside, and what would it mean to notice them fully?

Understorey follows Chapman over the course of a year as she observes these strange, tenacious plants, and meditates on how artists and writers throughout history have portrayed them, from the bramble framing a sixth-century Byzantine manuscript to a kudzu vine installation in contemporary Frankfurt. Beautifully illustrated throughout, it is a book that explores what is gained when we pay attention to the smallest things.