Watershed: Place-based research using art as a tool for engagement and critical enquiry into relationships and landscape change within the Ullswater catchment

Fraser, Harriet ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2490-3496 (2023) Watershed: Place-based research using art as a tool for engagement and critical enquiry into relationships and landscape change within the Ullswater catchment. In: 2023 Research Skills Development Summer School and Research Student Conference, 26 June - 5 July 2023, University of Cumbria, Lancaster, UK. (Unpublished)

Preview	PDF (poster) - Presentation Available under License CC BY-NC Download (82MB) | Preview
Preview	PDF (event programme) - Supplemental Material Available under License CC BY-NC Download (782kB) | Preview

Abstract

In this presentation I will reflect on the progress of the Watershed project. Watershed combines Geography and Art to explore perspectives on nature, culture and landscape change within the Ullswater Valley. It involves five artists from the PLACE Collective and aims to encourage dialogue across different interest groups, with reflection on processes of change, and perceptions of relationships between humans and the rest of the living world. The research takes place within the theoretical context of post-humanism, where humans are not considered to be at the centre of things, nor the most intelligent of species, and explores concepts of entanglement, inter-connectivity and distributed agency. In considering the geographical and policy context for the research, I will discuss local sustainability initiatives, upland farming and commoning, net-zero targets, national biodiversity indices, and post-Brexit agricultural and environmental policies. Two key lines of enquiry are to find out what happens as conversations unfold among local residents and land management specialists through the media of various art practices, and how the project artists respond to an iterative and collaborative place-based process.
1. Watershed is funded through the UKRI ‘Enhancing Research Culture’ fund. PI Dr Jamie Mcphie.
2. The PLACE Collective, based at the Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas, is a group of artists who are critically engaged in transdisciplinary research centred on issues of environment, nature and rurality.
3. Watershed is a case study that will inform the direction of Harriet Fraser’s PhD: ‘Rethinking agency and action in environmental and landscape change: arts practice as a tool for critical enquiry in protected landscapes.’

Harriet is Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Cumbria and founder of the PLACE Collective: a community of artists engaged with issues of nature, environment and rural landscapes.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Departments:	Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas (CNPPA)
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	16 Jun 2023 08:53
Last Modified:	11 Feb 2024 08:00
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7178

Downloads