Bois de Fa

Le Bois de Fa is an experimental garden spanning 6.5 hectares in Brabant Wallon. Since 2017, Natacha and Olivier Legrain-Mottart have envisioned this garden as a place to foster biodiversity.

To realize this vision, Benoît Coppens, in collaboration with landscape expert Gilles Clément, conducted a comprehensive study, enabling a multifaceted and inclusive approach involving various landscape stakeholders.

Since then, an increasing number of specialists with diverse backgrounds have been involved in various projects within Le Bois de Fa. Some notable interventions include:

• Planting a Miyawaki forest of 5,500 trees by Nicolas de Brabandère to reinforce edges and enhance the existing forest ecosystem.
• Transforming the central grassy clearing into a flower meadow spanning nearly 500m2 by Pascal Colomb, with the aim of creating a dynamic garden.
• Planting around a hundred fruit trees in various conditions by Pascal Brackelaire.
• Creating a clearing and managing the forest by Jérémy Leidgens.
• Studying the chemical composition of soils on the agricultural plateau by Lydia and Claude Bourguignon.
• Constructing retention basins on the agricultural plateau by Himanshu Arteev to improve water management.
• Developing a permaculture project by Marin Hock and Aristide Legrain to move towards greater food self-sufficiency.
• Conducting a census of insects, particularly beetles, by Loic Dahan.
• Lastly, conducting a bird census by Steven Lemaire.

In addition to these projects, since June 2021, the LMNO gallery has been running an artistic residency program using Le Bois de Fa as a creative space.

The goal of the residency is to inspire innovative and experimental artistic projects that draw inspiration from the essence of the place. Furthermore, it aims to explore potential futures where humanity reconciles nature and culture. Participating artists consider the garden as: a space for pleasure, a nurturing environment, a laboratory for scientific and aesthetic exploration, a resilient stance, poetic intuition, and more.

"In essence, the garden as a lived space, at a time when it plays a crucial role in redefining our relationship with the living world."

Gilles Clément, Le Jardin en mouvement. De La vallée au champ via le parc André-Citroën et le jardin planétaire, Paris, Sens et Tonka, 2007.