The artist Luke Jerram on the tree-planting project he’ll never see finished

Luke Jerram – whose art installations have travelled the world – is philosophical about his latest project bearing fruit beyond his time on earth.

Known for his “Play Me I’m Yours” street pianos project and his Museum of the Moon artwork – a seven-metre in diameter sculpture of the moon featuring detailed Nasa imagery of the lunar surface – Jerram is now working on Echo Wood, a living, breathing installation made of native British trees.

Planted this winter in Somerset’s Chew Valley in collaboration with the charity Avon Needs Trees, the 365 trees – crabapple, hawthorn and oak – will slowly grow into a vast 110-metre-wide design and will take a century to fully emerge, long after Jerram is gone.

A mock-up of Echo Wood, which will contain 365 trees in a design that will allow the centre to be used as a creative space. Illustration: Enviral

“In 50 to 100 years I’m not going to be here,” Jerram, 50, says next to a scale model of the project in his studio in Bristol. “I’m at a stage in my career when I’m starting to look forward, I’m not looking back.

“I’m 50, it might be a midlife crisis. I’m up to 900 exhibitions now. 40 countries around the world and the artworks are in about 80 museums. So you suddenly start thinking about legacy projects and the fact that I can’t keep these levels of energy up.

“I suppose there’s something quite nice about projecting yourself into a future, which is quite exciting.”

The living sculpture will form part of Lower Chew Forest, which at 422 acres and 100,000 trees, will be one of the biggest new woodlands in England when completed.

Blossoming at different times of year, pathways and avenues will be created to guide visitors to Echo Wood on a journey through the forest towards a central circular gathering space, formed from 12 English oak trees.

As with many of his projects, Jerram wants this central space to foster creativity.

“It will form an event space. It can be used for weddings or educational activities, music, poetry, you name it,” he says.

Jerram other works that often touch on themes of nature and the climate emergency include: Gaia, a seven-metre diameter sculpture of the Earth using Nasa imagery; Helios, a sculpture of the Sun using detailed solar imagery to recreate its surface; and Tipping Point, a simulated forest fire combining smoke, lights, and sound.

Echo Wood is perhaps the closest representation of those themes, a symbol of the fight against climate change.

“This is a way to physically do something about it. Using creativity to inspire general the public, but also to help even use trees to raise a bit of money and create a legacy,” Jerram says. “What art can do is it can communicate messages in a different language that can then reach people in a slightly different way.

“I’m often collaborating with scientists, but also charities on how to communicate their ideas.”

Despite the concerning lack of progress in tackling the climate crisis, Jerram says he is “always hopeful” despite finding “the breaching of tipping points” frightening.

“There’s this lovely comic illustration of a doctor with a slightly ill looking Earth in front of them on the doctor’s chair,” Jerram says. “The Earth is saying ‘I’m afraid we’ve got a nasty infection of humans at the moment’. The doctor says ‘Don’t worry, it’ll soon pass’.

“We’re just the latest invasive species.”

The wood from his latest artwork will be ultimately sustainably harvested and used for educational and creative projects, before the trees are replanted to then continue the cycle of life.

Jerram is known for his seven-metre sculpture of the Earth, seen here at the Painted Hall in the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, which uses images from Nasa. Photograph: Vickie Flores/EPA

“I like the idea of what can you then do with the wood – turn the oak into playground equipment for the schools in city, or create a boat, or musical instruments for kids in the city,” Jerram says.

Companies and individuals will be able to sponsor individual trees to raise money for Avon Needs Trees, which has a number of tree-planting projects across the region.

“Stood in the heart of a brand new forest, Echo Wood is a symbol of optimism to us and future generations that with some thought, creativity and determination we can meet the climate and nature crises we’re facing,” Dave Wood, the chief executive of Avon Needs Trees, says. “Not quite a message in a bottle but a message in wood, water and sunlight.”

“We want as many people as possible to be thinking about creative ways to meet the climate and nature crises we’re facing. By working with Luke, we’re able to engage a whole new set of people who otherwise might not make the journey out into the countryside to see the work we’re doing increasing woodland cover in a severely deforested part of the country.”