‘Restorying Landscapes in a Changing Climate’ explores how artists and culture bearers can support communities in building long-term climate resilience and regenerating their ecosystems, both in the UK and the Philippines. This project is a collaboation between the Living Story Landscapes Project, the Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking, and One Resilient Earth, with the support of the British Council.
Restorying Landscapes in a Changing Climate is a co-creative initiative bringing together artists and communities based in the Philippines and the UK to collaborate on restoring their ecosystems and engaging in cultural transformation for regenerative and climate-resilient futures.
Through our patnership with the Living Story Landscapes Project and the Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking, we are combining our expertise in mobilizing creativity to engage communities in transformative change, and tell their own story of their place. The project aims to help regenerate critical ecosystems, write new narratives of belonging and connection, foster reparative relationships between South and North and limit the local impacts of climate change on individuals, communities and ecosystems.
The Re-Storying project brought together 11 artists and culture bearers both from the UK and the Philippines in taking stock and exploring how their practice can contribute to re-storying processes leading to increase in climate resilience and regeneration, with the diverse communities they interact with or are part of.
- The Living Stories Landscape Project team gathered artists doing in-depth community work in the Philippines, engaged them in further training and testing of tools to implement re-storying community work in Cebu, and co-designed the transformative work sessions during the residency.
- The Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking team selected UK-based artists who have community-based practices around climate change, collaboration and ecosystem-restoration. They also supported the organization of a week-long residency for artists from the UK and the Philippines in Stroud (UK).
- The One Resilient Earth team mobilized its international expertise in regenerative resilience to climate change, and in-designing multicultural and transdisciplinary educational projects, to facilitate a series of learning exchangess between artists and culture bearers from the UK and the Philippines, as well as co-design transformative work sessions during the residency.
The Restorying project contributed to building the capacities of participating artists and culture bearers. Key insights from the project are gathered in a guidance document for artists, culture bearers and local communities willing to channel the power of the arts and culture in fostering resilience and regeneration where they are. A toolkit for restorying processes and restoring landscapes is also being draftd by the Living Story Landscapes Project team for the Philippines.
Videos of our public events, including our launch event and the community events organized in Stroud, UK, in February 2023, with the support of the Royal Society of the Arts are online here.
The artists produced new artworks, with upcoming exhibitions at Hawkwood for the UK-based artists, and in the Philippines. Below is ‘Blink’ the first video of the Project Restory series developped by photographer and videographer Hanz Florentino, as part of the residency.
One Resilient Earth will soon release several interviews with the artists in Tero Magazine to dive deeper into exploring artists’ role in climate-resilience and regeneration.
At the end of the project, all participating artists and culture bearers reported feeling better equipped to address climate change impacts, and more inspired to work towards regeneration with communities, at different levels. They also expressed appreciation for the creation of a new transnational community of purpose and of support.
As this project concludes, we wish to keep on supporting and exploring the role of artists and culture bearers in addressing loss and damage associated with climate change and the biodiversity crisis. If this topic resonates with you, feel free to write to us: contact@oneresilientearth.org
