The Forgotten Garden of Shadows
Matthew Robert Hughes & Emma Thistlethwaite
Presented by Sacred Thing and Legion Projects
as part of Neo Ancients Festival Stroud
2nd - 11th May 2025
Chapels of Rest
Stroud Cemetery
Stroud, GL5 1HJ
No one speaks of what really happened.
But the garden remembers.
The Forgotten Garden of Shadows is a collaborative installation 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.
As part of The Forgotten Garden of Shadows exhibition, we created a beautifully illustrated garden pamphlet—a guide and invitation to explore the grounds more deeply.
Inside, you'll find clues, character descriptions, and details about the garden's key locations, all designed to help you uncover the hidden mystery at the heart of the installation: the untimely death of a young boy named Lionel Marshall.
Visitors are invited to follow the trail, piece together the story, and step into a world where folklore, memory, and shadow intertwine.
