The ‘Our Ingleborough’ Festival is a four-day travelling exhibition which explores the past, present and future of land use around Ingleborough. Over the past six months, the ‘Our Ingleborough’ project has been documenting memories of the past, connections to the land and visions for the future of this landscape from artists, residents, visitors and school children.
Wild Ingleborough is an ambitious, landscape-scale project working with the community to bring about nature’s recovery in North Yorkshire. As part of this nature recovery project, people who live, work and visit the Ingleborough area star in a short film and podcast series, and others took part a number of workshops to gather a variety of creative responses to share their perspective on this area of the Dales.
For four days, the results of this work will be shown in community spaces, alongside the work of local artists and children, in Ingleton, Ribblehead, Settle and Clapham from the 16th – 19th June.
Artist, filmmaker and ‘Our Ingleborough’ lead, Matthew Somerville, said: “Land use is a huge issue for our future. Considering changing ecosystems, additional pressures on food production and increased tourism, the way in which we manage the environment feels more important than ever. Through working on this project, I witnessed a common theme among people who sometimes disagree; the most important thing is that we begin to work together on securing a healthy relationship with the natural world.”
Our Ingleborough comprised a series of creative workshops with Settle and Ingleton Primary Schools, commissioning five students to produce artwork about the future of Ingleborough and hosting a series of intergenerational conversations between students and their grandparents. In addition, a short film, podcast series with oral historian Anna Greenwood in collaboration with Voices from the Dales and a 360/VR video installation enable us to hear from a diverse range of voices, including a cave rescue volunteer, fell runner, farmers, and hiking groups. This iniative has engaged over 200 people in the local community. Funded art projects featured by five primary school children, printmaker Hester Cox (www.hestercox.com), fine artist Pip Seymour (www.wallaceseymour.co.uk) and painter Susan Parker (www.farsunnybank.weebly.com).
Wild Ingleborough lead, Jono Leadley, said: “As part of nature’s recovery, it’s vital that we listen to the voices of local people and their visions for future. This programme of work highlights the importance of Ingleborough for people, nature and livelihoods and the complex demands placed on our natural environment”.
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