REALITIES

Applying A/r/tography as a creative community resilience strategy in response to the climate emergency

This paper, authored by REALITIES early-career researcher Scott Davies, critically explores the creative-relational, arts-informed community response to the ‘climate emergency’ discourse in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Using qualitative and arts-informed methods captured at local ecological sites such as Baron’s Haugh Nature Reserve, the paper expands on the ways which the community engages with its natural environment. It was found that people came to the Reserve to feel more intimately connected to each other, to develop deep relations between themselves and nature, to rest together, and to “nurture a sense of vulnerability and problem sharing that they might not ordinarily feel comfortable doing in other environments”.
This ties in nicely with what the Collaboratory is exploring and aligns with its interest in engaging with forests as a relational practice by prioritising community members’ ‘storying’, as well as the experiences and emotions linked to their material environment. Mythological beliefs such as fairy circles saw the Reserve as a place of reimagining, and the use of an adapted conceptual model and an arts-education creative practice (Walking with A/r/tography) identified and mapped hidden and emergent community stories. In addition, it emphasises place-based transformation and reciprocal interactions with the environment.
A/r/tography was used as a means to discover hidden narratives and reframe resilience policy and practice, which in turn can reshape how we engage with ecosystems and offers new pathways for resilience based on the relationships between communities and natural environments.

Stress-Free Sundays at Clackmanannshire
During Phase 2 of REALITIES, early-career researcher Rhiannon Bull worked alongside community-embedded researcher Shona Ulrichsen of OYCI (Ochill Youths Community Improvement) to carry out Stress-Free Sunday activities which offered young people in Clacks the change to engage with nature. Interestingly, Shona noted difficulties in getting the community to engage with greenspaces as there is a perception they are not ‘for them’ but for tourists, as well as a lack of local transportation available. They partook in drawings inspired by the nature around them and exhibited deep creativity and interest in the natural environment; it was noted that each young person took ‘drawing from nature’ very differently. Additionally, Rhiannon noted how working on creative activities together and being in a greenspace created ‘a swift sense of ease in terms of relationship building with the group’. There was observation that the act of making something together was more important than the artistic activity itself; and being in nature created this sense of camaraderie.
This session mirrored the concept the Collaboratory looks at of engaging with forests as a relational practice through fostering a sense of belonging. This approach illustrates how accessible, community-centred experiences in the natural environment are a vehicle to re-shaping perceptions about the environment and making them more inclusive.