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Edward Lear came to Hastings in 1852 to paint a fig tree. Trees of many types appear in the songs, botany and alphabets that he included in his 1871 Nonsense Anthology. Biographer Jenny Uglow said of Lear, “One of his fantasies was of living on top of a tree like a bird in a nest, looking down at the ground.”

This sound composition was created for the A Town Explores A Book festival by Ruby Colley honouring Edward Lear’s affinity with trees and nature. It is composed of recordings of visits to Gensing Gardens, St Leonards on Sea, by the community, who selected their favourite tree to listen to and shared their recordings with Ruby and Hastings Borough Council’s tree officer, Chris Wilken, who spoke to ExploreTheArch artist Erica Smith about the trees in the park.

Ruby worked with mentee media artist Jac Holt. View Jac's trailer video below. Please use headphones to listen to the recording.


Read about the project here.





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Trailer by Jac Holt.


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