Creating festival decorations from locally sourced materials was the catalyst behind this intervention which explored Nature Connection through participatory art-making with natural objects. It invited festival goers to connect to their natural surroundings by collecting and hanging natural objects they found, and their written reflections onto a collective art installation.
The prepared natural decor situated around the site made with discarded materials, helped with bringing notion of natural materials to mind (the wooden branches wall and framed animal portraits in the bar). Using only what was available onsite, I collaborated with place in new ways, facilitating Nature Connection and hoping to bridge the separation gap between people and Nature. I did not want to use anything that would be detrimental to the Earth such as plastic that could not decompose naturally. Everything was found or reclaimed from discarded materials, down to the screws we used to attach the wooden planks onto the bar.
Open spaced workshops were run to encourage passers-by to take part.
Eventually, the wooden wall was left to be used as a permanent ornament to the festival site, the decor was put into storage for the following years.
Location: Knockengorroch Festival in Carsphairn
Ecoscenographer: Mona Kastell
Head painter & maker: Andrew McSweeney
Joiner: Nathan Goodfriend
Volunteers: Gorgia Royes, Lila Ann, and Josh.
Photography: Mona Kastell
