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Paper short abstract:

This presentation examines people’s changing relationship with a post-industrial landscape in South Wales. It explores creative methodologies, working with earthy matter, to show how re-engaging with these might enable conversations about the social and physical impact of the Anthropocene.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation draws attention to people’s relationship with the matter of the earth; it highlights how we are materially embedded through our engagement with earths, soils and clays and that ‘when we heal the land we heal ourselves’ (Steffensen 2019, 235). We explore how creative practice and material engagement can provide a (safe) place to talk, share ideas and learn. Using clay as a starting point, we hope to open up conversations between artists, academics and local communities about the trials of living on a damaged planet, specifically within the relict coalmining landscapes of South Wales.

Drawing upon Helen Acklam’s art project, What it is to be there, we are developing a methodology to explore how people perceive of and interact with earthy matters, as part of a future project in the Garw Valley. Our aim is to repair the suture between an impoverished and largely voiceless community and the world around them and also to communicate the meaning and value (of the earth). Pilot studies have demonstrated the physical and emotional benefits of working with clay in small groups within a relaxed environment. Co-collaborating with – handling, shaping, walking in – locally sourced clays and focusing on somatic, sensual experiences provides a space for sharing stories, while haptic engagement with clays reveals the corporeal connection between people, material and place. The ultimate aim of attending creatively to the matter of the earth while listening to local knowledges, is to give voice to local communities and to their material world.