REV On Air: Gardening As An Art Form & A Force For Change With Lily Kwong

Los Angeles-based artist Lily Kwong is a renowned landscape artist who works at the intersection of horticulture, urban design, contemporary art, climate awareness, urban agriculture, and wellness, reconnecting people to nature through transformative landscape projects and site-specific botanical art installations. Kwong has been part of numerous public art initiatives since beginning her practice in 2017, including botanical installations at The Highline, New York; Faena Arts, Miami; Grand Central Terminal, New York; Taipei Night Market, Taiwan; Bal Harbor Shops, Florida; and many more. She has received numerous accolades for her work:ARCHMARATHON & Dezeen Awards in 2020 for Glossier Seattle and the World Spa Awards for Shou Sugi Ban House in East Hampton, New York. Kwong was named tothe Forbes 30 Under 30 (Art & Style) list in 2018 and ELLE DECOR’s A-List.  Recognizing her efforts, Kwong was named one of “9 Young New Yorkers Poised for Creative Greatness” by The New York Times, and her work has been featured in The New Yorker, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Domino, Forbes, Fast Company, and more. She also served as Landscape Editor for Cultured magazine. Most recently, she was asked to be the 20th guest designer for the New York Botanical Gardens - the first women of colour to be asked to do so. She has dedicated her design for the show to her Asian heritage and a hope for peace after a lot of discrimination caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. Inspired byre own Chinese heritage, medicinal traditions, and her artistic interpretation of nature as a healing force, the resulting experience will beckon visitors into an immersive world in which humanity and nature coexist peacefully. Today, Cora and Lily speak about the importance of using gardens to reconnect people to nature, create awareness around the climate crisis, and even how florals can be used as an art form that can spark a reaction and a conversation. They discuss the importance of re-wilding our urban spaces where we can, and Lily's new found dedication to working with native plants in her own garden and her wider work to help with biodiversity, climate resiliency and water retention as she experiences severe drought first hand at her home in California.  This is a conversation about the beauty of the natural world, the way human creativity can lead to meaningful change through art, and even how Lily is approaching conscious parenting through a lens of connecting her child to the gardens, florals and forests she works with. This is a beautiful conversation full of meaningful moments of wisdom that have come from Lily's unique work that we can't wait to share with you - we hope you are inspired to get out and do some gardening yourself after this one!  Find her work here: https://studiolilykwong.com And follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/lily_kwong/