The Sustainable Earth Institute's Creative Associate Awards are designed to uncover novel and innovative ways of communicating research to a public audience. The awards have been made possible through funding from the University of Plymouth Research Impact and Innovation Fund, which is financed by the University’s Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) allocation.
A partnership with the British Red Cross Creative Recovery, funded by the European Cultural Foundation, sets out to communicate the narrative of refugees’ social integration within host societies in the UK by mapping memories of home. With support from photojournalist Carey Marks and twelve refugees, the project is co-produced through a series of innovative workshops designed by Dr Sana Murrani using layered maps and photographs. Focusing on Sustainable Development Goals 3, 10, and 11, the project aims to visually represent the neglected dimension of refugees’ heritage as a creative tool for recovery as they integrate with new communities.
Fotonow CIC will be working alongside Dr Clare Pettinger to create a documentary film to illustrate the complexities and harsh realities of the lived experiences of food insecurity in Plymouth (and surrounding area). This documentary will consolidate findings from the Food as a Lifestyle Motivator (FLM) project and align these with related local research and wider strategic priorities for systemic change that will tackle food poverty and hunger (locally, regionally and nationally). The film will serve as a crucial vehicle to strengthen the social impact of this research, allowing the project’s findings to be expressed in a way that can inform more sustainable solutions to this highly complex problem.
Professor Liz Wells and Research Assistant Kate Isherwood will be working with Impressions Gallery to create a publication to accompany the exhibition, Seedscapes. Seedscapes was commissioned by Impressions Gallery, Bradford and will open in Summer 2020 after which it will then go on a national tour. The publication supporting the tour will include: portfolios of work by the five artist-photographers included in the Seedscapes exhibition, plus additional photographic materials; 3 essays on photo-aesthetics, botany and sustainable futures; and historical images and documents relating to photography and botany.
Plastic Scoop is a Machinima (a type of filmmaking often created by fans of videogames). It brings together lecturer in English Post-1950 Dr Mandy Bloomfield, and photographer Andy Hughes, to create an innovative creative project which will share new perspectives and approaches about plastic pollution, climate change, the Anthropocene and sustainability. Using game footage from Grand Theft Auto V, alongside archival footage and new research material, it connects futurology and global environmental issues, watery worlds, ecology and the everyday way we think of ourselves and the ocean.
Working with Heidi Morstang, Films at 59 will be creating a film which communicates geo science through an intimate portrayal of a quest for understanding of what appears non-visible through the tactile and forensic approach to surfaces of landscape. The work builds upon Heidi’s current research into non-verbal, image-led narrative techniques applied in documentary filmmaking, by using the camera as a research instrument. The film explores a group of geo-scientists investigating the remote Arctic landscape of the Lofoten Islands (Norway), in order to examine causes of earthquakes originating deep below earth’s surface.
Britain’s fourteen overseas territories host globally significant biodiversity for which the UK Government retains responsibilities. These fragile and unique environments are threatened by habitat loss, invasive species, over-fishing and climate change. In this ambitious collaboration, artist Naomi Hart uses fine art to interpret and communicate research by political geographer Dr Nichola Harmer on how UK decision-makers view and respond to sustainability challenges in these distant territories. Through images and mixed media, the project visually highlights to diverse audiences the political, spatial and scientific complexities of working towards sustainability in non-independent offshore territories.
Kay Michael of the international theatre company Empty Deck will be working with Professor Gerd Masselink to create Waves. Waves is a sound installation bringing together voices of coastal communities in the South West of England, narratives of future extreme coastal storm damage and sound art. Variations of the installation will be made with and for communities who’ll be impacted by coastal damage in the projected future, and presented in public sites along the coast. Waves is a testimonial tapestry of memories and relationships to coastal places, interwoven with stories of coastal damage and composed sound inspired by the sea. It intends to promote a relationship of stewardship between a place and its people, with the hope to inspire action in the present that can mitigate the worst impacts of coastal storm damage.
