Kurt Jackson: Forest Gardens exhibition

'Jackson's paintings celebrate the biological fact that the true life – and liveliness – of these places is in the air, where the magic of photosynthesis creates green tissue from light and carbon dioxide, where the sun’s rays open the flowers and ripen the fruit' (Richard Mabey, writer and naturalist) Photograph: Kurt Jackson

Olive Grove in a Clearing in the Cork Oaks, 2008. Richard Mabey: 'Kurt’s approach reflects the central principle of forest farming, that the ecosystem itself – not some planned, manipulated, composed environment – is the true subject of the working landscape' Photograph: Kurt Jackson

Eating Oranges Off Trees, Smelling the Almond Blossom, 2007. Richard Mabey: '[Orchards] represent ancient compromises between the worlds of the hunter-gatherer and the farmer, places where humans can provide for themselves without obliterating whole ecosystems' Photograph: Kurt Jackson

Butterflies Above the Cork Oak Forest Above the Med, 2008. Richard Mabey: 'A furious row was brewing between the forest-farmers and Brussels bureaucrats, who want to manage the whole area as a reserve. The locals argue, with a logic that’s hard to counter, that if they weren’t already accomplished conservationsts, the forest wouldn’t be the unique jewel it is' Photograph: Kurt Jackson

Home, 2008 Photograph: Kurt Jackson

And Under the Almond Blossom are Yellow Flowers, 2007 Photograph: Kurt Jackson

Up Here in the Shade of Cork Oaks With the Screaming Cicadas, Down There on the Med, Big Boats and Screaming Beach People; July 2008 Photograph: Kurt Jackson

Two Big Graylings Float Around Me and Above Me and the Med Below Me, the Cicadas Are Singing to Me From the Cork Oaks, 2008 Photograph: Kurt Jackson