Marc Quinn is to present a major exhibition across Kew Gardens, comprising outdoor sculptures and a presentation of works at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.

The exhibition will explore the relationship between people and plants.

Building on the artist's long-standing interest in nature and the human experience, Light into Life will encompass sculptures and installations across the Gardens alongside a dedicated presentation of works from the 1990s until today in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.

Offering moments of reflection and interaction throughout the Gardens, the exhibition examines our complex relationship with the natural world and represents one of the largest site-specific art projects at Kew to date.

Light into Life will feature more than 20 newly conceived artworks, developed through close collaboration with Kew's scientists and horticulturists.

Working with specialists from a variety of fields including taxonomy and plant diversity, Quinn will create pieces based on significant plants from across the collections at Kew, including large-scale sculptures based on herbarium specimens of medicinal plants, telling the vital story of humanity's reliance on the natural world for life-saving therapeutic treatments.

Celebrating the magnificence of Kew's 175-year-old Palm House, Quinn will create a series of new sculptural portraits of palm leaves based on the Bismarck and Sabal Palms from within the glasshouse.

These artworks will be emblematic manifestations of our relationship with trees as sources of shelter, food and the fabric of daily survival for billions of people across the world. 

Accompanying these new commissions will be a selection of existing artworks, many of which explore the idea of nature as a fundamental part of humanity, a prominent focus of Marc Quinn's practice since the 1990s.

Amongst these works is Origin of Species, created in 1993, which will be shown in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.

A frozen self-portrait made of coconut water sourced from Palm trees, the central idea of the sculpture is exemplified by its material, which has long been linked to human survival, including reported claims that it can even be used as an emergency intravenous fluid transfusion.

Through this work, Quinn highlights the interdependencies that exist between humans and the natural world and investigates nature as a source of sustenance in extremis.

Marc Quinn says: "As humans we are not isolated from our environments, we interact and exist within them as a part of nature.

"Collaborating with Kew, a world-class centre of botanical research, and the team of scientists and horticulturists there, has underlined how integral the natural world is to my practice.

"The complex science of plants has always - and continues to - inspire my thinking as an artist.

He added: "I look forward to presenting this extensive new body of work at Kew Gardens for the first time, as well as recontextualizing previous works from the past 30 years in this unique and special setting."

Accompanying books will be published by Kew Publishing..