RACHY MCEWAN
Rachy McEwan is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher based in London. She graduated with a First Class BA in Painting and Printmaking from The Glasgow School of Art (2020), receiving the RSA New Contemporaries Award, and earned a Distinction in her MA in Material Futures at UAL: Central Saint Martins (2024), where she was shortlisted for the Maison/0 LVMH Maison Award.
Her practice combines art and technology to create systems and experiences exploring urban ecology, interactivity, and the ways audiences engage with both digital and physical environments. Working across painting, programming, 3D imaging, and interactive design, she develops experimental platforms that encourage reflection on human-environment relationships, technological processes, and participatory engagement.
Rachy challenges traditional approaches to perception, bridging natural, artificial, and non-human worlds. Collaborating across disciplines including engineering, arboriculture, and science, her work blends technical experimentation with conceptual inquiry, offering new ways to understand and interact with contemporary ecological, technological, and urban systems.
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MONEY TREES
2024
www.money-trees.uk
Colaborators :
Data @treeconomics
Community Group @notice_this_tree
Touch Design @niki_cardoso_zaupa
Coding @peti_filou
Audio @loubrishanterry
Money Trees aims to increase the value and autonomy of urban trees in London, reducing the likelihood of their removal. By utilising community art, activism and technology to transform how we economically value trees, reducing the chances of them being cut down. Trees are a vital living being for both human and ecological health. However, current systems often fail to accurately value their worth, leading to their removal with little or no fee.
Through the Money Trees website, visitors are encouraged to take photos of various trees around London from different angles. These photographs are then transformed into 3D digital assets and uploaded onto a GIS mapping system on the Money Trees website, which also provides information on the specific tree species, health, and carbon sequestration value. The digital trees can be purchased in pixels, allowing many people to own parts of the same asset. The money collected helps with the maintenance of the trees. If a physical tree is cut down, the funds accumulated from the digital asset will be reinvested into the community for tree replanting.
By merging art, technology, and a passion for the environment, Money Trees seeks not only to safeguard urban trees but also to highlight their vital economic and ecological role.