This Living Nature 2021 session brings together three artists to explore how we can connect to the natural world in urban environments.
Listen as artist Frances Disley discusses her film ‘Love letter to the mystery (Wavertree park)’ and her artistic journey with curator Adelaide Bannerman and artist and urban farmer Michael Smythe.
Frances Disley’s film is a response to her local municipal park, which has offered sanctuary and inspiration to test ideas around the psychological benefits of being around plants, and in particular plants with medicinal properties that are common in urban landscapes. Plantlife and seasonality seem to offer a level of certainty and comfort in shifting chaotic times, during which healing gifts have been prepared and conversations shared with others, allowing Disley to think about being part of a community which incorporates people, plants and place.
Thank you to our inspiring speakers:
- Frances Disley is a Liverpool-based artist.
- Michael Smythe is an artist, urban farmer and creative director of Nomad Projects, an independent arts foundation that develops experimental projects across digital and location-specific spaces. Nomad Projects critically engages with issues surrounding environmental and social equality within the urban landscape. Current projects includes Phytology, an urban physic garden and research institute in Bethnal Green (East London), Urban Mind a global research project investigating the relationship between the landscape and mental health and Mobile Apothecary, a herbal medicine dispensary providing free healthcare to individuals and communities with limited access to accommodation and quality health care.
- Adelaide Bannerman is a freelance project manager and curator based in London. Since 1998, Bannerman has worked for a number of renowned UK arts institutions that have included Autograph ABP, Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), African and Asian Visual Artists Archive (AAVAA), Tate, Live Art Development Agency, Platform London, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, 198 Gallery and Arts Council England.
“If we don’t know how to read our local environment, it is hard to respond to the bigger global picture.”
–Michael Smythe
