2.11 Anita Bagdi: Eco-Anxiety as a Channel for Creativity
Hello my love! Welcome to series 2 episode 11 of Prompted by Nature. how are you? How this week been for you? I’m not going to lie, this full moon has had me all over the shop - that of course, and the fact that we have a new house mate in our abode. We are over-wintering a baby hedgehog, Carrie, who was very poorly and underweight when she was found in a garden nearby on Halloween, and is now too young to hibernate so the lovely Carole, who runs the local hedgehog rescue group and who has been amazing in helping and advising me in setting up the Benfield Valley Project, asked if I wanted to look after her now that she is doing better. Suffice it to say, it feels like a huge responsibility, especially with hedgehogs being on the ‘at threat of extinction’ list, but she’s settling in well and we love her already! I’ll keep you posted as the weeks go on as to how she gets on.
Anyway, onto today’s conversation. In this episode I speak with Anita Bagdi. Anita is a self-taught freelance illustrator, a book lover, coffee addict, Mum of two beautiful girls and a worried warrior of climate change. She loves creating mood, capturing everyday feelings, finding different, sometimes funny ways of telling stories and showing beauty in colours or in black and white.
In this episode, we discuss:
Anita’s inspiration and how she got started in illustration
Her art as a way of understanding her eco-anxiety
The conversations that her art brings up with her children
Her personal connection to nature and her memories of her childhood in Hungary
Her creative process and how she stays inspired
Anita’s connection to Mothers Rise Up and Parent’s For Future and how this has influenced her creativity
Her hope for the future
What her journey has taught there that she would like to pass on
As I mention in the conversation I first connected with Anita through the parent climate change group, Parent’s for Future, which we joined at the same time and then were part of the group who worked on the Open Letter to Boris Johnson calling for a ‘Green Recovery’ earlier this year. Anita shared a few things about her artwork in the WhatsApp group and I followed her on insta and was immediately enamoured by her use of colour, structure, and the powerful messages about our natural world in her creations.
You can find Anita over on instagram @anitab_art or on her portfolio website, where you can find the link to her shop www.anitabagdi.com
As always, I’m over on insta @prompted.by.nature or on my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can find link to my Etsy shop, gift vouchers for my in-person outdoor retreats and creative writing sessions as well as information and bookings for my Monday night online nature-inspired meditation and creative writing sessions.
Please do give the podcast a five-star review if you have time and share with your community on social media or in real life. Thank you to those who have already done this, it’s making a huge difference in getting the meditations, writing prompts and these voices ‘out there.’
Remember to stick around unit the end when I’ll give you a little hint at the meditation and writing prompt that follows this episode. Happy listening and I’ll speak to you after!
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Thank you so much for listening - I found that conversation so inspiring and hope you did too! The meditation and writing prompt that follows this episode is for you if you have bouts of eco-anxiety as we’ll be diving into ways to help manage and move through this. Happy writing and I’ll speak to you soon!
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Meditation and Writing Prompt
Hello! Welcome to this meditation and writing prompt for my interview with Anita Bagdi. In this episode, I speak about my own eco-anxiety and strategies that help me to manage and soothe it. There are a few prompt questions (below) and I direct you to some meditations that help me over on the website.
Prompt Questions:
What is your definition of Eco-Anxiety?
What triggers it specifically?
How does your body/mind/breathe feel when you encounter your eco-anxiety?
What strategies do you already have for dealing with your eco-anxiety?
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Some ideas listed in the episode:
Create something beautiful
Get involved in a community project
Use the meditations from your favourite episodes of Prompted by Nature or go to https://www.promptedbynature.co.uk/free-meditations for some older recordings I've done covering themes such as anxiety and overwhelm.
Know that you are not alone
Get help if you need it
Let me know how you get on!
Helen x
