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Walking Forest
Art Nature Activism

Resume: Welcome
Walking Forest Coventry 2021_edited.jpg
Walking Forest Coventry 2021_edited.jpg

Rainer Maria Rilke

Poet

'The future must enter into you a long time before it happens.'
 

Walking Forest is a 10-year art project that connects activism, natural forest networks, and communities. The project will culminate in 2028 by creating an 'intentional woodland,' a place adorned with trees that honour women activists, similar to the Suffragette Arboretum. This transformative initiative is unfolding across multiple UK locations, fueled by a burgeoning network of stories, art, and performances.

My invitation to join thirty women in Walking Forest came the night before it started its four-day camp in Coventry in May, using the City of Culture 2021 as a partner. Sometimes, the universe can deliver the most magical opportunities that genuinely change life and understanding.

 

In The Presence Of Poiniancy, Partnership & Passion

Held at Rough Close woodland on Coventry's outskirts, we joined to explore the link between women, trees, and activism. The site proved to be the most potent of settings as:

  • Its quiet, dappled natural beauty offered the perfect scenic backdrop for reflection and sharing.

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  • Close to its perimeter sat the development of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail link, reminding all of the impact of humans on the environment.

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  • It touched on Floyds Fields, an ample green recreation space gifted to the city by Lettice Floyd, a suffragette living nearby Berkswell. 

 

I attended discussions, talks, walks, and shared meals during the three-day event. We explored different parts of the woodland and various ways of connecting to and learning from trees and forest networks, culminating in a performance that took us through the woods.

 

We were fortunate to have visits from Sarah Richardson, a suffragette historian from Warwick University, Melanie Moon, an environmental activist opposed to HS2, Louise Romain from Stop Ecocide, and Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South and a prominent voice in the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill. On the final day, we sewed and listened to Farhana Yamin, an environmental lawyer, speak about the upcoming climate negotiations at Cop26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

 

I had heard of ecological grief (eco-grief) but had never experienced it. Learning about environmental destruction and climate change in this supportive, eminent, and honest collective opened a lid on a tightly closed can of emotion that I never knew existed within me. I cried for hours and felt exhausted, but the sisterhood cared and carried me forward into the intended next phase of the project: co-creating with these women a two-day performance action moving through the city of Coventry.​​​​​​

'I want to demonstrate that actions speak louder than words. What we are producing is something that is visible to people - offscreen and on the street.'
Martina, Walking Forest

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Mid-autumn, for two days, from dawn till dusk, the women of Coventry Walking Forest brought their activism to the city streets, carrying a felled tree. This act symbolised endurance, love for the planet, and a commitment to future generations. It was a moving tribute to the loss of forests and ecosystems worldwide while also sowing seeds of courage for the future.

 

This performance emerged from the camp through the imagination and vision of all who participated. Over days in various locations, we came together to plan, build, and rehearse our message to the city.

 

Production materials were natural, recycled, found, borrowed or repurposed.

 

I was lucky to create the costumes. We strode forth with ideas about the functional attire of the suffragettes retrieved from deep in my Textile GCSE concerning the Rational Dress Society. Suffragette skirts were made in two parts, allowing the wearer to move her legs and be agile while maintaining modesty. Indeed, not only could she march, but she could play tennis. These practical vessels were adorned with pockets for practical, political, and gender-based purposes, with some saying the aim of deliberately adopting the pose of a man with his hands in his hip pockets. Echoing history and making the uniform practical, personal and striking - a utility split leg pinny was devised, each adorned with mycelium-linked photos, embellished patches, statements, prized items, and a tool belt. The decoration included 'more-than-human woodland beings' that each woman chose to stand for or 'carry' throughout the two days.

 

The core collective designed the route, choreography, costume and props; many other women came to help and bear witness on the day. Silently, a pinny-clad procession walked through the streets tinkling bells, carrying a felled tree on their shoulders, led by a costumed spirit and trailed by women carrying Earth's prized treasures. Period stops were planned to tell stories, share and create.

 

The tree we carried was a birch, felled in Coventry in its prime, close to the Heart of England Way to make way for the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail link. Birch trees are often the first species to populate open ground, lasting up to two hundred years. They have a folklore with solid associations with loss, renewal, and new beginnings. In honour of the death of this tree, we held a space to mark the relentless and ongoing destruction of trees and Nature around the world.

 

'We bear our collective grief over our loss of the natural world, species, ancient woodlands, as women, as ancestors. We demonstrate courage and vulnerability, creating space for lament, but also inspiring hope, the feeling we are not alone.'

Alice, Walking Forest

 

The tree became a space to gather, belong, learn, contemplate and create through arranged interventions concerning:

Hearing All

A speakers' corner at the old council buildings for women to express their hopes and fears

Inter Generations

Conversations across generations about climate change at Greyfriars Green

Climate Concerns

A climate cafe to share concerns about changing weather and its impact in Coventry and in other parts of the world at Shelton Square

No Hunger

A shelter for free food, and discussing how Coventry can feed itself at Volgograd place

Using The Body

Dances of gratitude and celebration outside of the Belgrade Theatre

Creative Word

Performance poetry at Sherbourne Valley Allotments

Protect Nature

Sharing the importance of parks and green spaces at Lady Herbert's Garden

Reflection

A site for reflection and mourning at the Cathedral ruins

COP26

The COP26 talks in Glasgow served as the backdrop for the second and final performative action featuring the Silver Birch tree, with support from the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) Environmental Arts. The tree was the focal point for the start of activist events known as the 'Council of All Beings.'

A Laying Down & Planting

In the initial stages of the Walking Forest project, three seeds from the Batheaston Pine, also known as the 'Last Suffragette Tree', were planted in pots and willed to grow. Of these, two germinated following different growing styles but bound as siblings; they became known as the 'Radical Sisters', a nod to Lettice Floyd and partner Annie, a fellow suffragette.

These sisters were planted in Lettice Floyd's Coventry field, where the adventure began, and as the first offerings in the Council's tree planting scheme. They stood close enough to connect to each other and their fellow trees through mycelium but far enough away to thrive. However, they were not alone, as the prized silver birch carried through Coventry and COP26 Glasgow was laid near them to return its goodness to Nature.

'We only hope that the radical sisters grow as strong as their Mother Tree' (the Batheaston Pine.) 
Founder, Walking Forest

Intentional Woodland Conclusion

The Walking Forest project as a visionary 10-year initiative is still ongoing but is set to conclude with establishing a thriving Intentional Woodland by 2028. This woodland will be a timeless living masterpiece, providing an enduring sanctuary for hope, inspiration, and natural beauty for future generations. The planting in 2028 commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Universal Bill of Suffrage (Equal Franchise Act), honouring the courageous suffrage campaigners. The Intentional Woodland acknowledges the worldwide Women Defenders of the land and their desire to propagate a global vision of caring for our planet. Just as suffrage campaigners brought about extraordinary changes, today's activists strive to transform how the natural world is portrayed in legal, political, economic, and cultural systems.

 

I was honoured to be counted among them and seen.

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