The University of Salford & Peel Park, UK
April 2022 - July 2022
The People’s Park was inspired by the heritage of Peel Park, the first public park in the UK, and unique in the fact that it was funded via public subscription. Recognising the need for a leisure space in the industrial city of Salford, workers collectively established a place that was free to use and open to all residents.
Working with a mutli-disciplinary group of students from the adjoining University of Salford, we undertook action research to explore how this space could facilitate wellbeing in a contemporary context, considering the rapid gentrifcation currently taking place in the area.
We collaborated on a series of creative workshops, bringing together art practices such as drawing, photography, deep listening, close looking and poetry and combining them with Shinrin Yoku (forest bathing), to understand how we could form a reciprocal relationship with the park. How does it care for us? And how can we care for it?
We shared our findings through a collaborative workshop hosted for members of the local community. An activation of the space which included sensory experimentations and exchanging of new knowledges.
