The Forgotten Garden of Shadows
by Emma Thistlethwaite
& Matthew Robert Hughes
2nd - 11th May 2025
Chapels of Rest, Stroud Cemetery, Stroud, GL5 1HJ
Photography by Emlyn Bainbridge
No one speaks of what really happened.
But the garden remembers.
- from Matthew Robert Hughes’ exhibition text
Sacred Thing and Legion Projects are pleased to co-present The Forgotten Garden of Shadows, a collaborative exhibition by artist Matthew Robert Hughes and floral designer Emma Thistlethwaite. Together, they conjure a haunted garden filled with memory, myth, and mischief - where ceramic ghosts walk among living flowers, and time feels suspended.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is a large-scale tabletop diorama: a handcrafted miniature garden built from clay, stone, wood, and found materials. Sculpted figures and architectural fragments - created by Matthew - whisper fragments of a hidden story, inviting visitors to look closely and piece together its mysteries. Scattered throughout the space, bespoke ceramic vessels hold wild and evocative floral displays by Emma, inspired by the real-life zones of a garden: from moonlit meadows and poison borders to walled plots, pergolas, and overgrown arches.
Emma’s floral designs bring seasonal life into the space, evoking the textures, scents, and moods of a real garden - one that might once have thrived, or might still exist just out of reach. Each display is in conversation with Matthew’s sculptural language, combining living matter with the stillness of clay.
This collaborative work blends folklore and queerness, Victorian gothic and camp, inviting audiences to slow down, notice details, and uncover the secrets of a garden that remembers what others have tried to forget.
The exhibition is free to attend and its opening weekend is included within the NeoAncients festival programme.
This is the first exhibition to take place at the Chapels of Rest since the Stroud Preservation Trust signed a seven year lease in February 2025.
Matthew Robert Hughes is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and gardener. His work explores queer connections to land and nature through witchcraft, folk culture, sacred protest, and magic. Rooted in 80s TV, children’s fiction, and ghostly folktales, he works primarily in film and ceramics. He also runs Legion Projects, a visual arts organisation exploring these themes through exhibitions and collaborations. Hughes’ 2024 film The Tides of Kilpeck is screened in the NeoAncients film programme.
www.matthewroberthughes.com
Emma Thistlethwaite is a floral designer and installation artist who creates work under the name of Thistle by Nature. Her work often explores themes of circularity and seasonality and is inspired by stories rooted in the landscape and symbolism in the natural world. Emma’s work utilises nature's offerings beyond just flowers and foliage, she sculpts landscapes big and small with natural materials such as fibres, stone and textiles, with plants at the heart of her practice. Thistle by Nature aims to be a place where nature and concept-led design meet, nurturing what grows between flower arranging and allowing the flowers to arrange us. In 2023 Emma exhibited her work at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Emma’s work is currently on display at The Wilson Museum & Art Gallery in Cheltenham as part of Common Ground, curated by Ben Edge.
www.thistlebynature.com
Legion Projects is an artist-led organisation and open collaboration based in the UK. Founded in 2012 (originally as Legion TV), the organisation explores how the landscapes we inhabit - and those we imagine - are intertwined with the stories we tell, our collective and sustainable existence, and the intricate fabric of the world around us.
A common thread running through Legion Projects’ work is an ongoing investigation into what connects us to our surroundings: how we impact the land, and how it, in turn, shapes us. Legion Projects is led by artists Una Hamilton Helle and Matthew Robert Hughes.
www.legionprojects.com
For any enquiries please contact: hey@sacredthing.art
