I’m a multidisciplinary environmental artist, investigating the nature-culture continuum through examination of and immersion in place. I work with installation, film and sound, using these to examine our experience of the world.
My practice considers the Anthropocene/Planthroposcene, Deep Time and Vibrant Matter, examining ecological systems and phenomena in relation to the climate crisis. For several years I have been concerned with moss, fungi, earth, peat, wildfires and water, as material and subject. I’ve looked at moors and lowlands around Manchester; investigating their social, economic, and ecological context; exposing the nature of our relationship with our environment & exploring ideas about urban rewilding and sustainability.
After struggling for some years with personal & climate grief, I am now exploring the concept of hope & Thrutopias, exploring different views & radical approaches to the ecoverse, our society & economic models. I promote lower-carbon artmaking, through choice of materials & careful consideration of technology. As The Guardians of Living Matter, my collaboration with the artist John-Paul Brown, we are currently developing a major institutional multimedia exhibition over four galleries with The Lowry, Salford.
RECENT/ongoing/UPCOMING
2024-26 Guardians of Living Matter
Collaborative exhibition of commissioned work with John-Paul Brown at the LOWRY, Manchester in Spring 2026
Aug 2024 Offering to the Gods [Tanrilara Sunmak]
A site-specific landscape installation, commissioned by the Kommagene Biennale, Turkiye
Jun 2024 The Ground Beneath Our Feet
Group Exhibition- The Old Timber Yard, Dorset
Jan 2024 SPARK-Artists Interventions in a time of crisis [Curator with John-Paul Brown]
Exhibition of 30 SPARK (environmentally focused North-West network) artists and associated events
2022-24 Para-Lab [science/art research collaborations]
Working groups ‘Moss Colliding’ looking at the confluence of ecology and particle physics and ‘Soil Core’ investigating soil ecology and archives at the UK Centre of Ecology and Hydrology
AWARDS
2023 Meadow Arts Commission Award, Worcester Open Climate Change Edition
2021 LBxan Artists Bursary www.biennial.com/blog
Bursary awarded by the Liverpool Biennial, a-n Artists Network and Open Culture to develop an audio-visual piece about water and open water swimming.
2006 Landscape Institute Award Landscape Architecture GDip Exhibition, MMU
RESIDENCIES
2023 Groundwork Gallery: Extraction Residency
Residency & Exhibition addressing Extraction; commissioned by Groundwork Gallery and The Grange Projects
2021-22 SUSTAIN Digital Artist Exchange www.sustainartists.info
Digital residency with focus on low-carbon artmaking; commissioned by Castlefield Gallery and Aarhus Billedkunstcenter
2018-9 Moors for the Future, Edale Environmental Art Residency
2018 CAMP, Aulus-les-Bains, France Residency/workshop with Nils-Udo
2016 I-Park Foundation, Connecticut, USA Environmental Art Residency
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024 ROGUE WOMEN 3 Manchester Contemporary
2024 ROGUE WOMEN 3 Rogue Artists Studios
2024 THE GROUND BENEATH OUR FEET II The Old Timber Yard, Dorset
2024 SPARK – Artist Interventions in a Time of Crisis Rogue Project Space, Manchester
2023 THE GROUND BENEATH OUR FEET Groundwork Gallery, Norfolk
2023 CLIMATE.EMERGENCY.HOPE The Turnpike Gallery, Leigh
2023 WORCESTER OPEN The Art House/Pitt Studio, Worcester
2022 PARALAB REPORT Seesaw Space, Manchester
2019 MA/MFA HOME, Manchester
2017 PROOF Robert Burt Gallery, London
2016 RESIDENCE(residents) I-Park Foundation, Connecticut, USA
COMMISSIONS AND PUBLIC ART
2024 Thresholds Site-specific Installation commissioned by The Whitaker Museum, Rossendale
2023 The Museum of the Vibrant Collector Installation and animation commissioned by Groundwork Gallery, King’s Lynn
2022 The Checklist Resource for artists to lower website’s carbon emissions
2019 Talk to the Trees Community engagement, Lead Artist, Preston
2016 Birds of Passage Public Artwork, RSPB Sculpture Trail, Fairhaven Lake
2014 Reach Art Project Community Engagement, Lead Artist, Lytham St Annes
2003 DNA Public Artwork, Nuffield Hospital, Leeds
2000 Wave Public Artwork, Saltash, Cornwall
1998 Sundial Public Artwork, Mile End, London
EDUCATION
2019 MA Fine Art (Distinction), Manchester School of Art
2006 GDip Landscape Architecture, Manchester Metropolitan University
1992 BA(Hons) 3D Design (wood, metal, ceramics, glass) Manchester Polytechnic