The Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden (SUBG) will officially launch its first permanent art collection, the James & Shirley Sherwood Botanical Art Collection, in May.

Housed in the historically-significant SUBG office building, it showcases the artworks of many top South African botanical artists.

It captures the beauty and diversity of South Africa’s flora, while drawing attention to plants that are increasingly at risk. Through its combination of art, science and conservation the project aims to deepen the connection to the Cape’s exceptional plant heritage, strengthen local botanical art capacity and inspire greater awareness of the urgent need for plant conservation.

Botanical art at the SUBG was initiated by specialist botanical art curator Karen Stewart and the late Dr Donovan Kirkwood, former curator of SUBG, in 2023. The pair recognised the value of botanical art to communicate the often-fleeting beauty of plants, to inspire people to connect with nature and, in doing so, raise awareness of the conservation needs of many plants.

Since then SUBG has hosted the annual Botanical Art and Photography exhibition, laying the groundwork for the establishment of this permanent collection.

The collection will include paintings by some of SA’s top and early-career botanical artists, each work tied to the garden’s conservation collections.

The garden is home to more than 200 collections of plant species at risk of extinction. Many of these plants are inaccessible in their natural habitat and can only be seen when visiting the garden.

The collection will document seasonal plant beauty and inspire nature appreciation. Many SUBG species have never been illustrated and are threatened or newly described, making this documentation crucial.

The project supports botanical artists by providing access to rare collections and expert guidance from SUBG specialists. Early-career artists receive mentoring from experienced South African botanical artists to strengthen scientific accuracy.

SUBG aims to establish this as South Africa’s only institutional home for botanical art. The collection will be permanently housed and professionally curated, creating a prestigious project documenting Cape and South African flora.

• Patrons and corporate partners can join this initiative by contacting Annerie Senekal for funding details and Stewart for artist applications.