Urban Wilderness CIC delivered photo walks with CAFAG youth club as part of English Heritage’s national Reverberate programme, supporting young people to explore how heritage shapes their lives in the shadow of an abandoned coal mine.
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Mining Migrations was a collaboration between Urban Wilderness CIC, Keele University and Chatterley Whitfield Friends exploring hidden migration histories connected to Chatterley Whitfield Colliery. The exhibition was first presented at Chatterley Whitfield Nature Reserve during the Being Human Festival 2020.
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Urban Wilderness CIC worked with Canal & River Trust to consult young people on their perceptions of Manchester’s canal system and their hopes for its future. Through photo walks, discussion and model-making, the project explored safety, identity and new possibilities for neglected
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For Winter Wastelands, artist and graphic designer Jon Paul Green created five short typographic poems installed across Stoke-on-Trent using hand-cut stencils and temporary aggregate. His interventions offered small moments of connection, resilience and reflection during the winter lockdown period.
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A reflective ceramics project exploring pause, return and transform, created through online and in-studio making sessions during lockdown. Clay Comrades produced raku-fired cubes that capture personal reflections from 2020 and the importance of staying connected as a creative community.
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The Immaculate Sisters of Hartshill explore seasonal rituals, symbolism and wellbeing through participatory performance rooted in mid-autumn transitions, inspired by Samhain and their lived experience of lockdown.
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Winter Wastelands brought together creative responses from across Stoke-on-Trent during the winter lockdown of 2020/21. Urban Wilderness CIC commissioned artists and communities to explore connection, wellbeing, ritual and resilience through public art, clay, poetry, digital portraiture and creative rituals.
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By a Thread is a textiles artwork by illustrator Becki Kremer, combining hand embroidery and felt on transparent netting. Installed temporarily in Central Forest Park, the work reflects on the relationship between nature and humanity through a quotation from Wordsworth’s Lines Written in Early Spring.
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Our Youth Grows in a Wasteland is an audio drama project by Potboiler Theatre exploring young people’s experiences of being outdoors in Stoke-on-Trent. Through collected stories, audio plays, and a verbatim account of the city’s first Black Lives Matter protest, the work amplifies youth voices and local activism within Hanley Park.
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Diverse Landscapes is a digital photography project by Adina Lawrence, exploring heritage and identity through outdoor portraiture in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. Models wore outfits reflecting their cultural backgrounds, colour-matched to natural surroundings and photographed with minimal processing to highlight authenticity and connection to place.
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Taking Up Space brings together Black women from Staffordshire to reclaim green spaces through walking, dance, and poetry. Initiated after the 2020 lockdown, the project culminated in dance and poetry performances filmed in Hanley Park.
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A creative community project with Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent, Middleport Matters and the Canal & River Trust — exploring life along the Trent and Mersey Canal through art, play and storytelling.
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A community-led project empowering families and young people to reclaim public parks for play, creativity and connection through collaboration and trust.
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A joyful family arts festival co-created with young people and artists in Stoke-on-Trent, celebrating creativity, freedom and play through performances and workshops.
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