
Roxy Russell
Exploring our relationship with our environment through thread and installation.
What was the last plant you encountered ?
Roxy Russell is a visual artist currently based in Scotland whose work explores our disconnection from nature, using thread and natural materials to reflect on the fragile yet enduring relationship between humans and the environment, merging time, movement, and material in a poetic practice that questions our place within the living world.


Artwork
Hanging by a Thread
Out of the 1600 flowering plant species known in Scotland, 233 of them are vulnerable and considered to be of principal importance for biodiversity conservation.



Golden Trees
Installation in woodland. An invitation to pause, reflect, and reconnect with nature.



Sur un fil
Belgium's endangered plants; calling for awareness, reflection, and action before they disappear.



tell me a story about plants
Plants of Portugal; the endangered plants, the plants we don't notice, the plants that hold stories.



Les arbres sont fatigués
Inspired by the trees in Quebec; exploitation, destruction, tenderness and fragility. The trees are definitely tired.
Artistic approach and process


A sense of disconnection with the environment is at the core of Roxy Russell's work. A detachment that she feels and observes on a daily basis: the way nature is artificially manipulated, the way trees planted in straight lines, the way only small designated areas are identified where plants can grow freely. Her work reflects questions about our relationship with the living, the cohabitation between human and non-human, the nature – culture dichotomy. How to connect better to plants?
Roxy's main medium is thread for sewing, crocheting and weaving, and other projects also take shape as installations of various materials, often natural elements. Her creative process is characterised by the repetition of a same action. This approach generates a better understanding of how materials react, familiarity of the repeated movement and awareness of her own body. A connection is established. The endurance and patience required imply slowness: a rhythm that contrasts with the pace of our daily lives. Different temporalities meet and merge creating a sense of continuity.
Fascinated by the versatility of thread and textiles, Roxy is constantly exploring new techniques and processes. She chooses to use simple biodegradable materials, found and derived from nature: a limitation that pushes her to find more sustainable solutions to making art.
The tension produced by different contrasts is an integral part of Roxy's work: thread can be as fragile as strand of cotton and as strong as to bind two items together. Her work reflects the complexity of the situation, of the world we live in yet seems simple in conception. The topics Roxy chooses are serious yet her approach is poetic.
Roxy Russell (b. 1988, Edinburgh, Scotland) immigrated to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1998. She graduated from the Valais School of Art (EDHEA, Sierre) in 2013 before participating in exhibitions and residencies across Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, Thailand, and India. In 2019, she moved to Quebec, Canada, to pursue a master’s degree in Visual Arts at Laval University, which she completed in 2021. During her time in Canada, she took part in exhibitions such as Fresh Paint / New Construction at Art Mur Gallery (Montreal), DE(S)CONNEXIONS at Le Lobe (Chicoutimi), and presented her solo exhibition The Trees are Tired in Québec. Since returning to Europe in 2022, she has been developing Endangered, a project consisting of embroidered representations of endangered plants based on various national Red Lists. She has exhibited at CAVA Galeria (Viseu, Portugal) and participated in Étoffe(s): Biennale internationale d’art textile contemporain (Verviers, Belgium). She is currently based in North Berwick, Scotland.
Scottish Landscape Awards, July - September 2025
Scottish Arts Trust at Kirkcudbright Galleries, Scotland
La Fête de Mai 2024 organisée par Vagabond’Art, May 2024
Art trail in Gesves, Belgium
Étoffe(s) : Biennale international d'art textile contemporain, October 2023 - April 2024
Le Centre Touristique de la Laine et de la Mode, Verviers, Belgium
TERRARIUM, July 2022
Group exhibition at CAVA Galeria, Viseu, Portugal
Les arbres sont fatigués (The Trees are Tired), July 2022
Individual exhibition shown at the 5th World Congress on Agroforestry at Centre des Congrès de Québec, Quebec, Canada
DE(S)CONNEXIONS, June 2022
Laberge-Russell Collective at Salle d’exposition de l’Université Laval, Pavillon Desjardins, Quebec, Canada
Exposition satellite de la Manif d'art, la biennale de Québec, March 2022
Group exhibition at Roulement à billes, Quebec, Canada
La boutique au 704, December 2021
Individual exhibition at 704 rue sainte-madeleine, Quebec, Canada
Peinture fraîche et nouvelle construction, July 2021
Group exhibition at Art Mûr, Montréal, Canada
Les arbres sont fatigués (The Trees are Tired), October 2021
Individual exhibition at Salle d’exposition de l’Université Laval, Pavillon Desjardins, Quebec, Canada
DE(S)CONNEXIONS, March 2021
Duo with the Laberge-Russell Collective at Le Lobe, Chicoutimi, Canada
Confondre l’espace, January 2021
Duo with Lucie Gagnon at Salle d’exposition de l’Université Laval, Pavillon Desjardins, Quebec, Canada
Parcours d'art sauvage, August 2020
Group exhibition at Coopérative des jardins de Victoria, Saint-Isidore d’Auckland, Quebec, Canada
Mars de la maîtrise, March 2020
Group exhibition at Roulement à billes, Quebec, Canada
OFF-JC, September 2019
Group exhibition at Roulement à billes, Quebec, Canada
Scythia fibre art, the 12th international biennial of contemporary textile art, June 2018
Group Exhibition at Ivano-Frankivs'k, Ukraine
Upon Arrival, June 2016
Group Exhibition at OED Gallery, Kerala, India
De Passage, December 2015
Solo exhibition at Le Cabanon, Lausanne, Switzerland
Affordable Art, March 2015
Group exhibition at Swiss Art Space, Lausanne, Switzerland
Freedom to Love, January 2015
Group exhibition at Accademia Apulia, London, England
Artffordable Fair, March 2014
Group exhibition at 13 The Gallery, London, England
Creating Myths, September 2013
Solo exhibition at The Decca, Ness, Scotland
Photography and Illustration, October 2013
Group exhibition at The Exchange, Dublin, Ireland
L’ECAV aux Floralies, October 2013
Group exhibition at Château Mercier, Sierre, Switzerland
Closer, September 2012
Group exhibition at The Exchange, Dublin, Ireland
Iceberg, February 2012
Group installation at The Arctic Centre, Rovaniemi, Finland
Residencies
De Liceiras 18, Temporary Art Community, June 2022
Research and creation residency in Porto, Portugal
Nouaisons, centre agri-culturel (to come)
Research and creation residency 2022 or 2023 in Scott, Quebec, Canada
Le Lobe - Résidence de commissaire, Julie Andrée T., February 2021
Residency with the Laberge-Russell Collective in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada
Résidence Art sauvage, August 2020
Residency followed by an exhibition at the Coopérative des jardins de Victoria in Saint-Isidore d’Auckland, Quebec, Canada
Carpe Diem Residency, June 2016
Research and creation residency in Kerala, India
ComPeung Artist Residency, May 2016
Research and creation residency in Doi Saket, Thailand
Other projects
Encann' 2022, May 2022
Evénement-bénéfice bisannuel, Regart centre d'artistes en art actuel, Quebec, Canada
Champ libre, September 2020
Land art project, Parc du Boisé-des-Frères-du-Sacré-Cœur, Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada
Les Encans de la quarantaine, May 2020
Selected to participate to an online auction, Online event, Quebec, Canada
University Laval Art School flag contest, September 2020
The gardens of Quebec City Hall, Quebec, Canada
Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year 2014, November 2014
Seascape award – commended
Publication in the book: « Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year 2014, collection 1 »
Christmas card for the Swiss embassy in Washington, November 2011