10,000 Steps Around the World, Northern Roots, May 2022
SHRINE was commissioned by Northern Roots and Lingua Franca World Community CIC as part of the one-day festival 10,000 Steps Around the World, where audiences journeyed around the site encountering works responding to the theme Human:Nature.

Northern Roots is an Oldham-based charity currently creating the UK's largest urban farm and eco-park, with a vision to harness urban green space to benefit people, planet and place. Ten Thousand Steps Around the World was devised as a walking and arts experience to encourage audiences to explore the site. Ten artists from Oldham and Greater Manchester were commissioned to produce a range of performances and installations that audiences encountered on their guided journey through the site.
For the festival, I produced a ceramic installation entitled 'SHRINE'. The piece symbolised a
human shrine to nature, creating a time and space dedicated to acknowledging nature and its importance to us. The aim of the work was to give audiences an opportunity to reflect on how they feel connected to nature and to take a moment of gratitude in recognition of all that nature does for us.

The installation was made up of multiple hanging pieces, including pendant style sculptures with leaf patterns and individual leaves.
The patterns on the pendant pieces link to my Nature Mandala paintings and research into the positive impact natural patterns have on our mental wellbeing, further reflecting and emphasising the importance of nature on our wellbeing.
When audiences encountered the work, they were encouraged to take a moment of reflection and gratitude, to recognise the emotional and physical impact nature has on us and our connection to it. While audiences engaged with the piece they were free to share any thoughts and feelings or to ask questions about the work. Directly engaging with the audience and listening to their response to my work created a shared moment that I found incredibly powerful.

Comments