Kidsgrove Canal: Nature Recovery Project

As a Stoke-on-Trent based artist I have been making work which explores urban nature for more than a decade. This has included leading urban nature walks, the creation of various floral trails and guides, events which connect people to nature and taking the lead on transforming a disused garden into a pocket park. 

I am really pleased to be beginning a research residency on Kidsgrove Canal, commissioned by Appetite and The Canal and River Trust, and look forward to connecting with Kidsgrove people to find out what they love about the canal, and how they use it now, but also aiming to work together with people locally to begin to think further about how canals and greenways can provide important access to nature for urban areas, and to explore the relationship between humans and nature.

Through the work on the canal, I will look at the biodiversity of the plants and creatures that live on the canal, and to map and track local ecologies of the canal. I am keen to begin conversations with organisations and individuals who would like to consider what Nature Recovery looks and feels like in relation to the Kidsgrove canal, and beginning with questions about the role of canals in supporting nature.

I will be hosting walks and workshops over the next 6 months which connect to the canal and its human and non-human neighbours. Do you have something important you want to tell me about the canal and the plants and animals there? Get in touch!

Watch this space for more information about the project as it progresses.

As the project develops I will be continuing to write up what is happening, and will be also pulling out language that might be usefully explained in the context of the work via a Glossary of Terms:

Biodiversity – the variety of plant or animal life in the world or in a given location, and in the context of this project, aiming to map and track different species in order to gain an understanding of variety and numbers.

Ecology - the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. In this context, we are using ecology to describe the relationship between living things, including humans and other species, from micro through to planetary scale.