What happens when you ask five people that have been forced to leave their homes and cross the world, to curate and commission a piece of public art? To work together to select a piece that moves them, that involves the community, and that says something powerful?
You get Ask The Trees: a collaborative filmmaking project led by Rebecca E Marshall telling the stories of trees that have come from far and wide to live together in Alexandra Park. Made from the footage of 24 phone-users and filmmakers, Ask The Trees is the final product of a six month long process of Commoning the Programme, broadening decision-making in the arts to include rarely-heard voices, this time those of local refugees.
Commoning the Programme 2 builds on the success of the pilot in 2024 which worked with young people to commission work exploring the question ‘what does it mean to be alive, past and present?’ Artist Mark Lawson Bell was selected to create Dream/Time, a multisensory audio-visual project collecting memories and dreams of different generations, which was displayed in Priory Meadow Shopping Centre.
This year, in partnership with the Refugee Buddy Project, OBX of Hastings Commons led Commoning the Programme 2, inviting refugees from Afghanistan, Burundi and Ukraine, to commission a piece of public art for display in Hastings. Over 12 weeks in winter beginning October 2025, workshops introduced the cohort to the practice of curation, learning from experts: Gail Borrow, Lucia Scazzochio, Tina Morris, Rachel Nahum, Kasey Ball-Scott led sessions on programming, storytelling, and the practice of making art public.
This year, the group commissioned an artwork celebrating the way community and family extends beyond individual households into the wider world.
The selected work was proposed by Rebecca E Marshall – a filmmaking project that explores the world within Alexandra Park. Relying on community collaboration and participation, Marshall’s project supported twenty-four new filmmakers aged 7-70 to shoot footage of trees around the park, slowing down to focus in on the details – bark, leaves, light through the branches. The films force us to appreciate what lives around us, zooming into the leaf-level and out across the seasons. The accompanying music was made specifically for the films, sounds of intrigue composed by Joanna Lawrence that open our curiosity to our surroundings.
Each of the eight trees featured is from another corner of the world, from China to Tasmania to the American Northwest. Single Leaf Ash, Lace Bark Pine, Chusan Palm and Jounama Snow Gum: each contains its own story, carried from its homeland, adapted to its new one – personalities that add shape and texture to this special park. In Alexandra Park the most diverse of species coexist, contradicting and complementing each other. The Snow Gum:
Over the top?
maybe – But this is an Australian tree!
a place of teeth, venom and flame!
The work was celebrated on March 29th at Pump House Cafe at an event which launched the self-guided tour and installation of the films around Alexandra Park. Visitors are still able to experience the films in situ, face to face with the trees themselves and via QR code at each location. We are able to witness the seasons changes with each tree, able to return to track the changes and grow with them. To look is to learn – about the world, brought to our doorstep.
Thanks to Arts Council England for supporting Commoning the Programme 2 and Refugee Buddy Project for their participation.
You can still follow the tour around the park, and scan the QR codes to watch the films. See more information via the Ask the Trees: https://askthetrees.world
Photo by Alice Denny
Article Written by Elsa Simmons