YOU can walk through a forest of trees made from paper at a new exhibition at Southampton’s SeaCity Museum. The First Cut will make you see paper in a new light.

It is a major exhibition that features works by over 30 international contemporary artists who radically rethink the possibilities of working with paper.

It explores how established and emerging artists are transforming the humble scrap of paper, through cutting, folding and sculpting, into amazingly powerful creations that could be destroyed with a single tear.

The exhibition is the first touring show to be hosted by The Pavilion at SeaCity Museum. The space has been taken over by installations that seem to explode from or tumble out of the walls.

A paper garden appears to grow up through the floor, while a ten foot oak tree sprouts thousands of paper leaves.

Every type of paper is used, from the handmade to the massproduced, including books, magazines, wallpaper, maps and even money.

The artworks vary dramatically in size and form, from the miniature to the fully-immersive, but all transform a basic material into fantastical works of art with high levels craftsmanship and obsessive detail.

• The exhibition is on tour from Manchester Art Gallery and opens today, running until January 12.

Admission: Adults £5, concession/child £3.50, family ticket (two adults and three children) £14.