Samuel Dominguez Unveils a New Sculpture in Battersea Park #Shorts

Why It Matters

By blurring the line between natural and artificial, “Apparition” prompts public reflection on cultural identity and environmental responsibility, influencing future urban art and sustainability conversations.

Key Takeaways

• Artist blends UK and Chile tree species in single sculpture.
• Sculpture cast in porous volcanic stone changes with seasons.
• Piece titled “Apparition” explores belonging and invasive presence.
• Contrasting artificial tree with live park flora sparks curiosity.
• Installation invites dialogue on nature, culture, and environmental perception.

Summary

Samuel Dominguez debuted a striking new work in London’s Battersea Park, titled “Apparition.” The piece is a sculptural hybrid that merges tree species native to the United Kingdom with those from the artist’s Chilean heritage, forming a genetic cross that is then cast in a porous volcanic stone. This material deliberately absorbs moisture and weather, allowing the sculpture to shift in tone and texture as the seasons change, mirroring the surrounding environment.

Dominguez explains that the work is “like belonging but then it’s also invasive,” underscoring a tension between cultural identity and ecological intrusion. By selecting tree varieties that resonate both locally and abroad, he creates a physical embodiment of transnational dialogue. The stone’s porous quality reacts to rain, sunlight, and temperature, making the sculpture a living record of its park setting, while its form resembles a tree yet remains unmistakably artificial.

Visitors to the park note the uncanny juxtaposition: “It looks like a tree, but it’s otherness,” one observer remarked, highlighting the piece’s capacity to provoke curiosity and reconsideration of what constitutes nature. The contrast of a fabricated, season‑responsive tree amid genuine foliage invites viewers to question the boundaries between the natural world and human‑made interventions.

The installation’s significance extends beyond aesthetics. It challenges public art conventions by embedding cultural hybridity and environmental responsiveness into a single object, encouraging discourse on stewardship, identity, and the evolving relationship between urban spaces and the ecosystems they host.

Original Description

Sukie from MA Sculpture went along to the unveiling of the a new work by our 2022 MA Sculpture graduate Samuel Dominguez, the winner of the Friends of Battersea Park and Royal College of Art Sculpture Award 2025 👏🎉

'Apparition' is a new public artwork that will be on display until Autumn 2027 in #BatterseaPark. Samuel's work is a speculative genetic hybrid of Chilean and British tree species using moulds taken from real tree specimens from across the park.

The sculpture was unveiled on Saturday 7 February in Battersea Park, as part of Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture. And we got to find out what residents around our Battersea campus thought too ☺️

#Sculpture #Art