Ferus Pigment

Broad leaved dock, in broad leaved dock ink and pigment 2026

Ferus: The Latin for ‘untamed, uncivilised.’ Also alluding to ‘ferrous’ and the iron rich earth of mid Devon.

I’m delighted to have been awarded an NLPG Research Grant for my project ‘Ferus Pigment: a project of regenerative and reciprocal colour’. Recent research has indicated that the weeds we now refer to as ‘injurious’, legally dock, thistle and ragwort, support double the biodiversity of those stipulated by DEFRA for agri-environmental options. In an age characterised by many as the ‘Sixth Extinction’, the project will explore our changing historical relationship with some of the plants we now love to hate. Plants who have acted as our most enthusiastic companions since earliest times; have been staples of food, medicine and colour and who, vitally, support the pollinators, and the many others, on whom we remain so critically dependent. The project will work towards the building of an entirely regenerative pigment palette and consider the bio-cultural implications of our changing historical human-plant relations.