The Shirley Sherwood Award for Botanical Art
The Shirley Sherwood Award is an accolade presented once a year in recognition of an artist’s contribution to Botanical Art. The prestigious award includes a prize of £10,000 and a dedicated space in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to display a selected artwork for a year.
2026 - Phansakdi Chakkaphak
Born in Chonburi, Thailand in 1949, Phansakdi Chakkaphak studied at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, and at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He has worked prolifically as a designer and illustrator of publications on botanical art, with work being displayed in Bangkok, London, Singapore, San Francisco and New York. In 2009, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre hosted a solo exhibition of his work titled Beauty in Bloom. He has worked as a freelance botanical artist since 1999, and over 40 of his works are now part of the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
From 9 May 2026, his works Water Firework, Japanese Pine Cone, and Cacao Flower and Young Pod will be on display in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. Alongside this, visitors will also be able to enjoy a new exhibition of botanical artworks, Monumental Botanical Art. This exhibition, linked to Kew’s forthcoming landmark presentation of works by Henry Moore, focuses on monumental depictions of plants, from giant waterlilies to the magnified details of spectacular trees, altering scale and perspective to encourage visitors to see elements of the natural world in new ways.
“I am delighted to present the 2026 award to Phansakdi Chakkaphak. His prolific and distinguished work has made a significant contribution to contemporary botanical art in Thailand and internationally. It has been a great pleasure to collect his paintings over the years; they now form an important part of my Collection. His work combines scientific rigour with artistic sensitivity in a most compelling way, and I very much look forward to visitors to Kew Gardens in the coming year discovering and enjoying his remarkable paintings for themselves.” – Dr Shirley Sherwood
You can view Phansakdi's work on the Shirley Sherwood Collection site here.
Previous Recipients of the Shirley Sherwood Award for Botanical Art: