A Dorset artist has created a free exhibition exploring a plant often perceived as a nuisance.

Sue Parr is bringing ‘How Like a Leaf’ to the Eype Centre for the Arts from July 26 to July 30 to allow visitors to explore the nettle and its characteristics which she has suggested are very similar to those of humans.

The artist has spent several years developing a deep understanding of the nettle and what it provides, exploring and expressing this relationship through different media, using print, video, performance, textiles and drawing, which will be showcased in her first solo exhibition.

Sue explained: "The nettle is a plant often feared, overlooked or maligned as a weed, yet it has played a vital role in human history and the ecology of our environment. Humans have worked with nettles to make clothes, string and rope, ink for dying and also used it for medicine, food and beverages.

"Nettles also play home to a multitude of invertebrates, with many butterfly species, including peacock and red admiral, wholly dependent upon it."

The exhibition opens between 11am and 3pm each day and on Saturday, July 29 at 11.30am, an artist talk and live performance will take place, involving a hand-made shamanic cape made from nettle fibres.