
"I wasn't that concerned in the beginning as all I could see and hear was for people to stay in. Also all my social media feed was so optimistic about it. It seemed
 like there was nothing to worry about. I didn't really consider the leaving option as it seemed a bad deal for both immigrants and citizens of the UK."
Moat
moat n. a wide ditch, typically filled with water, surrounding a fortified place such as a castle and intended as a defence against attack.

Papaver Rhoeas
"Perhaps dislike of alien species is indeed similar to racial discrimination - wanting to preserve the culture and genetic integrity of one’s own stock (a natural human failing). Alien species are welcome in strictly defined areas (gardens) or where economically useful (crops) but must not be allowed to pollute the native culture (the wider countryside)."
Dr James Fenton's
Alien or Native (ECOS 9(2) 1986

There are approximately 3 million EU nationals living in the United Kingdom. Since the invocation of Article 50, following the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, the government has offered no guarantees of their status after March 2019.
The combination of these visual elements and testaments was to look at the emotional impact of that result on London residents and workers, and find out how it has impacted on their daily lives. 
How welcome do they still feel?

Rosa Canina

Dissected
Deeply divided into lobes or segments

Ruta Graveolens L.


Leontopodium Alpinum
Seed
A reproductive body adapted for dispersal, developed from an ovule and consisting of a protective covering (the seed coat), an embryo and, usually a food reserve.

Rosa

Radiate
Spreading outwards from a common centre

Centaurea Cyanus
Convallaria Majalis
Centaurea Cyanus

Reflexed
Bent sharply backwards from the base
Acanthaceae


Lilium
Superior
Of an ovary: born at the morphological apex of the flower so that the petal sepals and stemens (perianth or stamens arise on the receptical below the ovary)

Dianthus Caryophullus
One of the prompts of this project was the above citation of a reference from Dr James Fenton's essay Alien or Native (ECOS 9(2) 1986 in which he speaks of 'alien species' and 'genetic integrity'
The following texts are responses from the participants (not all are featured above) of this project. They were asked about their feelings before and after the result of the referendum.
The national flowers of the remaining 27 countries in the European Union are represented by the botanical illustrations sourced from the library of the Royal Botanical Gardens.
"It was always my favourite country and I spent all my holidays there. When I suddenly found a job I was very excited to be able to live there."
"I came from a war torn country as a political refugee. At the time I was the UK as one of the most open-minded countries in the World.
The way I was accepted here and the opportunities I was given have confirmed my initial assumptions.
In my over twenty years in the UK people have always treated me respect and I’ve never felt like an unwelcome immigrant, though I should perhaps mention that my experiences are almost entirely London based."
"More job opportunities, variety of cultures freedom of faith…you can truly be yourself here and not being judged. UK seemed to me as a welcoming country with open-minded people living there."
"At the time I took the decision of coming to this country I had no specify ideas of how it would be apart from coming to a multicultural capital and be able to speak English.
It was being here that I felt in love with the city, I felt free and full of energy, excited about the getting to know this endless place full of creative people, full of places to discover an amazing meeting of absolutely everything."
"I was born into an international family, my identity was never caged by the notion of national geography. My nationality was just one in a number of factors that made me who I was, who I am. Irish, Italian, European, International, Human. Nowadays - that includes British."
"My intentions were to stay 1-2 years only, learn the language and have a fulfilled experience in the meantime."
"I wasn’t concerned, but I knew, the minute that the referendum was announced, that the UK would vote to leave. I was upset but this came after a number of years where my apathy and hopelessness about politics had increased significantly, so it just felt like the next thing to 'deal with'!"
"I was concerned when the referendum was first called. I felt that the government handing its responsibility over to the regular citizens was a declaration of incompetence and a convenient way to distract from serious national issues such as the consequences of the steep rise in university fees, the decades-long decline of the north and the growing wealth gap, all resulting from government policies"
"Not concerned at all.
I even felt, with all the ‘extra’ treatment UK (Thatcher) negotiated then (not member of single currencies, not included in Schengen), UK is not really a ‘full EU member’.
Mentality wise, perhaps a little detached from the continent (driving on the other side?) But I have not expected the emotional backlash this referendum caused."
"Naively enough I was not concerned at all about the referendum. I never thought in a million years that a country like the UK with a history of colonies and immigration would ever vote to leave the EU."
"One thing that did shock me is how divided the UK is. I hadn’t truly appreciated that class was still such an issue. For me it was something that belonged in the history books, but in the UK I found it was still alive and vicious. I was mostly immune to it as I didn’t fit in anyone’s boxes, but it was like sitting in the middle of a vicious storm. The level of hate and distrust between England, Scotland and Wales also shocked me - as well as regional frictions, especially between home counties and the midlands and the north."
"I try not to have expectations. And I didn’t experience a culture shock either - people are just people, were you go."
"It was clear that the decision was based on irrational reasons of nationalism, xenophobia, and as a revenge of the disenfranchised segment of society. The decision seemed to be heavily manipulated by some tabloids and people in power who surely had their own agenda (such as d-regulation of the markets).
Having experienced similar irrational nationalism propelled by opportunistic manipulators motivating people into action and resulting in a bloody war in my former country I was concerned about the possible outcome of the whole campaign over here."
"The longer I’ve lived here, the more shocked I am at the total lack of education children and people are given about their rights. The British media was also a shock: the lies they print simply wouldn’t be possible in Europe, it’s illegal. But here, it’s laughed off and no one really challenges it. People don’t generally challenge injustices either, there’s a depressing resignation in the face of injustice that I find really hard to take sometimes."
"I was gobsmacked. I could not believe it. I felt cheated and unwanted. I was in complete shock."
"I was not surprised. It was a campaign run on the one side by liars and on the other by people who did not want to have a debate. The population was blind, disempowered, unable to tell fact from lie. It was an arrogant gamble and it backfired horribly. "
"I felt I fell asleep in one country and woke up in another. For the first time in living in the UK, I felt unwelcome."