Nimki’s practice involves the use of wild plants to communicate ideas about environmental and cultural issues. He adapts archaic processes more commonly associated with the Victorian era of exploration and collection, documenting and analysing urban plant life (or ‘weeds’) like a botanist, but in a deliberately unscientific way. This data is transferred into labour intensive, intricate drawings, which are used to convey a rich variety of ideas.

The planned rejuvenation of Birmingham’s Eastside district provided the focus for this project. Once the city’s industrial heartland, it is now the home of empty buildings and dilapidated warehouses. Nimki compiled a detailed database of the plants that inhabit this neglected territory and he used his research as the basis for an installation in Ikon’s Tower Room.