The Memory of the Soil and the Rebellion of Forgotten Flora: Georg Wilson and “Against Nature” at Pilar Corrias

We dispel the gloom of January with an exhibition opening at the end of the month on Savile Row, inviting us into the dark corridors of Britain’s wild nature. Pilar Corrias presents Georg Wilson’s first solo show at the gallery, “Against Nature,” from 30 January to 7 March 2026. This new series of paintings is not merely a landscape depiction; it is a political and folkloric archaeology of poisonous plants that have grown on British soil for centuries yet have been erased from collective memory.

The Erosion of Ancient Knowledge: Enclosure and Industrialisation

Wilson’s focus in this series is on wild plants abundant in the United Kingdom—such as henbane, thorn-apple, and nightshade—that have been labelled by modern medicine and industrialised society as dangerous or in need of eradication.

Tracing these plants, the artist points to a breaking point in British history: the enclosure process that began in the 15th century. The severing of people’s ancient bond with the land and the rise of industrialisation led to the systematic erosion of ancestral knowledge about flora. In Wilson’s canvases, these plants appear not just as poisonous weeds but as symbols of a suppressed past and a will resisting humanity’s domestication of nature.

A Folkloric Atmosphere: From Medicine to Magic

Drawing from historical texts and folk healing practices, Georg Wilson aesthetically explores the dual nature of these plants—as both healing and destructive.

Dialogue: The paintings build a bridge between plant taxonomy and folkloric narratives.

Atmosphere: Shining under winter’s gloomy light, these plants shatter the romantic notion of nature as tame and peaceful, offering instead an uncanny, dark, and enchanting reality.

Metaphor: The wildness of the plants becomes a metaphor for any form of dissenting knowledge and existence that refuses to conform to industrial order.

Exhibition and Visitor Notes

Following his acclaimed first institutional show at Jupiter Artland, this eagerly awaited new presentation proves why Wilson holds such a unique place in contemporary British painting.

Exhibition Title: Against Nature

Artist: Georg Wilson

Venue: Pilar Corrias, 2 Savile Row, London W1S 3PA

Dates: 30 January – 7 March 2026

This exhibition is one of January’s most powerful destinations for those who wish to read nature not merely as a “background” but as a narrator with its own story—one that has been silenced.