Displaced by urban conflict, Rab Harling’s Exile in the Kingdom is a semi-autobiographical tale of exile, told through the prism of a diseased ash tree on a remote Scottish hillside.
Photographed between 2015 & 2019, Exile in the Kingdom is a timely elegy to Britain’s third most common tree, the ash, which may soon become a rare sight on Britain’s landscape, due to infection by the ash dieback pathogen. Ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) is estimated to affect up to 95% of Britain’s estimated 90 million ash trees.
Exile in the Kingdom is a tranquil and peaceful tale, told in striking contrast to the physical and social displacement of the artist, and the underlying disease destroying Britain’s traditional countryside vistas.
The exhibition comprises of 368 C-type photographs and a short film, photographed over midsummer 2019, exhibited seamlessly on a loop.
Cable Depot, London
6th March 2020 – 3rd May 2020
(curtailed due to Covid-19)
Installation images from Cable Depot, London. March 2020.
