Living Nature
About Living Nature
Living Nature was a three-day event series produced in collaboration by Invisible Dust and Flourishing Diversity in partnership with the British Library and Synchronicity Earth.
Through talks, discussions, screenings, and listening sessions, we spent three days considering the future of human-nature relationships through a lens of art, science and indigenous wisdom.
We would like to thank everyone who joined the events and helped make Living Nature so special. We also give thanks to Aurum Fund Management for making this event possible.
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Watch recordings
Scroll down or click the links below for details.
Listening Sessions
Listening Session with Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining)
Listening Session with Manari Ushigua
Discussions
What can humans learn from the rest of life?
Indigenous Science & The Fitzroy River
Transitioning to systems that embed nature (discussion)
Artist films & discussions
Artist film screening and discussion: Te rerenga pōuri o nga parawhenua ki Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
Artist film screening and discussion: love letter to the mystery (wavertree park)
Talks & storytelling
Wisdom from the heart of the world with Ati Viviam Villafaña.
We As Nature with Judy Ling Wong
Sheila Watt-Cloutier in-conversation
Programme details
What can humans learn from the rest of life?
A panel discussion and Q&A that considered what humans can learn from the rest of life.
Featuring:
Casey Camp-Horinek, a tribal Councilwoman of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, an Emmy award-winning actor and internationally renowned environmental activist.
Simon Starling, a Turner Prize-winning artist whose practice spans a wide variety of media, including film, installation and photography.
Jonathan Baillie, CEO of On the EDGE Conservation and President of the Board of NATURAL STATE. Former Director of Conservation Programmes at the Zoological Society of London.
Swati Thiyagarajan, environmental journalist and filmmaker. Production manager of My Octopus Teacher.
Listening to the Land
A sharing of short stories from people whose relationships with nature have been shaped by their experiences of listening to the land and their journeys through it.
Listening Session with Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining)
A Listening Session led by Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining), a member of the Dine (Navajo) Nation and a mother, artist and ceremonial leader.
Listeners included:
Alison Sudol, an American singer and actor who plays Queenie Goldstein in the Fantastic Beasts films.
Wendy Tan White, a British technology entrepreneur and CEO of Intrinsic, an Alphabet company.
Hosted by Clare Dubois, founder of Tree Sisters
Artist film and discussion with Natalie Robertson, Alex Monteith, Graeme Atkins
An arts-science discussion and film screening with artists Alex Monteith and Natalie Robertson (Ngāti Porou) and conservation ranger Graeme Atkins (Ngāti Porou).
Indigenous Science & The Fitzroy River
A conversation about Aboriginal science, the rights of nature and the unprecedented land grab that threatens Australia’s vast and unspoiled Kimberley region.
We As Nature with Judy Ling Wong
A simple yet potent event offering the space to listen, engage and envision possibilities that move towards a flourishing world. Part of Flourishing Diversity’s new “We As Nature” series.
Wisdom from the heart of the world
Opening talk – Wisdom from the heart of the world: the voice of an Arhuaco youth environmental activist, Ati Viviam Villafaña.
Nature connection in urban environments
Connecting to people, plants and place in urban environments. Artist Frances Disley in-conversation with curator Adelaide Bannerman and artist and urban farmer Michael Smythe.
Transitioning to systems that embed nature (discussion)
With biologist and systems thinker Phoebe Tickell, artist and ornithologist Marcus Coates, Global South Focal Point of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) Swetha Stotra Bhashyam, Zoologist and chair of the REED Ecological Network Reuben Fakoya-Brooks, and Director of Science at Kew Alexandre Antonelli.
- How do we bridge imbalances of power and respond to broken trust and collective emotions?
- What do positive human-nature relationships look like on a global scale?
- What might it look like to embed nature’s intelligence into our systems?
Sheila Watt-Cloutier in-conversation
Canadian Inuit advocate and author of ‘The Right to Be Cold’ Sheila Watt-Cloutier in conversation with Polly Russell along with questions from Inuk youth, Ashley Cummings.
Listening Session with Manari Ushigua
A Listening Session with Manari Ushigua, political and ceremonial leader and healer from the Sapara people from the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.
Listeners included:
Baroness Rosie Boycott, Crossbench Life peer, journalist and activist.
Susannah Fitzherbert-Brockholes, Assistant Director in PwC’s Sustainability and Climate Change practice.
Simon McBurney, Actor and founder of the Théâtre de Complicité
Simon Starling, Bridge (With Toru Okada & Takeshi Furukawa), 2015.
The collaboration
Living Nature is a collaboration between Flourishing Diversity and Invisible Dust in partnership with Synchronicity Earth and the British Library.
• Flourishing Diversity is a new organisation that supports a shift towards culture-centred conservation as being a fundamental priority to address climate breakdown and restore biodiversity.
• Invisible Dust has a twelve-year history working with artists and scientists to produce artworks and public programmes about environmental concerns.
• Synchronicity Earth is a conservation charity that works in overlooked and underfunded areas worldwide.
• The British Library are one of our partners for Living Nature and will host the final day of the programme on October 28th.
Invisible Dust is supported by Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England.
Living Nature is sponsored by Aurum Fund Management Ltd. (“Aurum”)
Aurum is a specialist investment manager founded in 1994. Reflecting the Aurum Group’s focus on climate change and support for the Paris Agreement’s aim of keeping the increase in global average temperatures to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, Aurum is a supporter of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. From an investment perspective, Aurum has been a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment since 2013.