2nd - 11th May 2025
Chapels of Rest, Stroud Cemetery, Stroud, GL5 1HJ
Refreshments generously provided by Deya and Living Things.
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.
Exhibition photography by Emlyn Bainbridge: