Peatland Justice Workshops
Bethany Copsey (United Kingdom)Peatland Justice is an artistic and educational programme created by the international collective RE-PEAT with the aim of changing the traditional negative perception of peatlands as wastelands and instead creating new narratives about their important place in ecology and culture. Two Peatland Justice workshops will be held in the Ķemeri Bog for those with and without prior knowledge.
Workshop 1: Planetary Workshop and Collective Storytelling (Sept. 10th)
In this workshop, we open a space for imagination and thinking about the future, rooted in our relationship with the landscape. Drawing from the experiences and observations in the bog, as well as other memories, conversations, and shared storytelling, we will explore the layered histories, present state, and future possibilities of bogs.
What might justice look like for landscapes long considered wastelands? How can we envision futures where restoration is not just ecological, but cultural and political?
We begin small (the squelch of moss, birdsong in the distance) and use these noticings as portals for delving deeper and wider into place, change, and our (future) relationships with bogs and creating new, collective narratives.
Workshop 2: Exploring the Sounds of the Bog (Sept. 11th)
In this workshop, we use listening as our primary mode of attention, trying to attune ourselves to the varied sounds of the bog – some immediate, others more hidden. Relying on this sense requires a different form of engagement than we may usually take so we will slow down, listen deeply, and explore what this does to our relationship with the landscape.
Participants will be invited to take (sonic) field notes, wander, notice, record, and reflect on what becomes audible when we shift our focus from seeing to sensing. These sounds (wind in the grasses, wings overhead, water rippling nearby) offer clues to understanding the bog and the life present more deeply.
What does listening allow us to understand about Ķemeru Tīrelis, and about ourselves in relation to it?
Workshop participants are recommended to wear comfortable shoes and appropriate clothing for the weather conditions!
About artist
Bethany Copsey is a writer, soil scientist, environmental activist, creative practitioner, and campaign coordinator. Born in England with Irish roots, raised in Aotearoa New Zealand, and living in the Netherlands, she often finds herself going between these places and sees peatlands as one way to link, layer, and traverse these places and homes. She co-founded RE-PEAT, a collective which works to counter the long-held notions of wetlands as wastelands and instead inspire new narratives and co-creations that recognise them as culturally and ecologically vital environments. In June of this year, Bethany graduated from Planetary Poetics, a Master’s program of the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, co-initiated by Framer Framed.
Credits
Supported by: The workshop was created with the support of the EU program Creative Europe as part of the project The Big Green, with financial support from the Society Integration Foundation from the Latvian state budget allocated by the Ministry of Culture and co-financing from the Ministry of Culture. The New Theatre Institute of Latvia is responsible for the content of the performance.
Date
Entrance
With registrationRegistration at the end of August
Length
Location
Language
Notes
Please dress appropriately for walking on the bog boardwalk and bring snacks and water for a picnic break!