Permaculture and more predominantly Social Permaculture has subtly influenced my practice / life as an artist and person over the past 5 -6 years. I haven’t studied it indepthly but use it now as a tool to come back to when thinking about System thinking, solution thinking and collaboration within spaces, people and environment here. It especially has encouraged me to look at how we are all connected and intertwined in the borough and looking at my own influences from further afield and how they have fed in to the work I look to develop with communities.
For example I made this map last year on MIRO using Principles of Permaculture with an Input and Out put exercise to explore my connections to place here (the borough of Broxbourne) and where my influences and connections/ networks and explorations have been outside of the borough…
This Free Permaculture course The #freepermaculture project is ‘brought to you by Heather Jo Flores, Kt Shepherd, the faculty of Permaculture Women’s Guild, and the content creators curated herein’
This resource is so invaluable to me and would be a great places to start for any of you who are exploring yourself, environment and place in this crazy world . As well as obviously if you want to know about premaculture!
The Rio Map by Fiasco Design , was the first that struck a cord when I was exploring the idea of what an ‘interactive map’ might be. On it you will find links to other sources and use of animated eye catching graphics/animations as well as the more testing issues being raised about the city and its people/spaces/ system. It leaves you questioning what you know about a place and intrigue in to how we should feel as outsiders looking in.
I’m interested in this Idea of ‘showing the gaps’ or ‘making visible’ that which we know is missing in our community and looking at solutions to how we work towards providing and filling these ‘gaps’ in our society… IE .. Social , economic, political, racial/ethical disparity .
Looking on the surface for what is here and then digging deeper in to understanding how to strengthen listen to and understand that which we sometimes feel disconnected to.
www.rio2016interactivemap.com
https://www.livingmaps.org/ – I’ve just come across this network through a friend and its ethos is one I relate to , in terms of local communities being in the driving seat of change . Expanding Many projects around the world ….‘Livingmaps Network was established in 2013 as a network of researchers, community activists, artists and others with a common interest in the use of mapping for social change, public engagement, critical debate and creative forms of community campaigning.’
https://www.commonground.org.uk/parish-maps/ – Common ground and particularly the Parish Maps Project was introduced to me by Green Dreamer a podcast I highly recommend but specifically ‘episode 277) Briony Penn: Inspiring deeper connections to place through community mapping’
Common ground to me looks to connect local people with the landscape that surrounds them through different projects but one well know is the Parish Maps Project.
I was reading An Article on the project here: Places and People, (quote below) it brings a lot of questions to the surface about working with community to look at a place through mapping. Its inspired my questions in conversations and how I might explore these kinds of ideas with our community in Broxbourne.
‘It begins with, and is sustained by, inclusive gestures and encouraging questions. What is important to you about this place, what does it mean to you? What makes it different from other places? What do you value here? What do we know, what do we want to know? How can we share our understandings? What could we change for the better? Turning each other into experts in this way helps to liberate all kinds of quiet knowledge, as well as passion, about the place. Making a Parish Map can inform, inspire, embolden.’
Lastly , for now , The Article by George Monbiot ‘Could this local experiment be the start of a national transformation? ‘ Introduced me to the ‘Everyone Everyday’ Initiative in Barking and Dagenham which looks to build a Participatory Ecosystem . Looking at Talent over need and giving opportunity and support to local projects , people and new business
I particularly like the 14 Design Principles for Inclusive Participation
But I love a good video… so here’s one to end this list of inspirations !
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