5.1 Bryony Benge-Abbott: Exploring the Intersections
Welcome to series 5, episode 1 of the Prompted by Nature podcast!
Action point: Go to RSPB, Wildlife Trust and sign the petition/email your MP regarding the changes in law regarding:
Lifting the ban on fracking in England
Removing important laws that protect nature
Considering scrapping plans to reward farmers for managing land in a nature-friendly way
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/get-involved/our-campaigns/defend-nature
Onto the episode…
Bryony Benge-Abbott is an interdisciplinary artist working closely with scientists, activists and community groups to explore our relationship to the natural world. She explores the potential for art to transform our relationship to nature can be unearthed in the space where science, social justice and spirituality meet?
We talk about:
The intersections that exist in the ways that we approach nature and what these mean to her
The capacity for art to explore these intersections
How her artistic practice started and how it developed
The ways in which her work at museums has enriched her creative practice
Her work around Pre-Raphelites and how this gave rise to her work on ‘gaze’ and natural world
What climate anxiety did for her creativity
Art as ritual space
Bryony’s Colour of Transformation project and how the life cycle of a butterfly inspired this work
How Bryony’s for has developed as a result of working with different practitioners in Colour of Transformation
How her connection to nature influences her creativity
Her vision for the future
Her hope for the future
You can find Bryony on her website https://bryonybengeabbott.com where you can also find out about her Colour of Transformation project, on Twitter @BryonyBA and on Insta @bryonybengeabbott
As always, I'm at www.promptedbynature.co.uk and on Insta @prompted.by.nature as well as Twitter @promptedxnature
Happy listening!
Helen x
———————————————-
In this writing prompt, we explore the ideas conjured up by Bryony in her interview around gaze and using our creativity to interpret nature. The prompt questions I ask are:
What’s your earliest memory of nature?
What part has that played in how you see nature?
What landscapes are you most drawn to in your creative practice?
How do you feel when you encounter nature and how might that influence your creative voice?
How can you use your creative practice to explore different landscapes and those which you have less knowledge of?
How can you play around with tone in your writing and experiment with ways of expressing your ideas that feel less familiar?
You can answer the all the questions thoroughly, or just use them as jumping off points for an exploratory piece.
Have fun and let me know how you get on if you use this one.
Happy writing!
Helen x
