Creativity Walks
About creativity walks
The Creativity Walks project is a series of arts-led walks taking place across natural spaces in Eastleigh as part of the Eastleigh Walking and Wheeling Festival.
ZEST artist Lucie Smith managed the project and facilitated bespoke public workshops alongside Kristína Marošiová, Jennifer Mon, and Alice Louisa.
Eastleigh Borough Council and Hampshire County Council funded Sustrans, the walking and cycling charity, to deliver the Borough’s first 30-day Walking and Wheeling Festival to help residents ‘Walk, wheel and connect’. Part of this commission was dedicated to the Creativity Walks.
The Creativity Walks aimed to offer direct connection with surroundings, for audiences to develop a sense of belonging and kinship with outdoor spaces, thereby creating a deepened respect for local heritage and the natural world. A sharing of stories and folklore relating to the landscapes and historic locations formed a key part of some of the walks. Across the workshops the walks attended to recent ongoing shifts to the climate and seasons, informing on what this means for wildlife.
The artists involved aimed to empower audiences to feel more confident in their knowledge of the natural environment, its history and its current state, leaving them equipped with exercises for continuing to build connections beyond the walking activities.
Pictured on the right is artist Lucie Smith leading her ‘Architectural Memory’ walk, which explored the ruins of Netley Abbey through history, folk tales, and creative and sensory engagement with the stones and the surrounding environment.
Image gallery
Pictured on the left is volunteer walk assistant Mark Ranger, who supported Kristína’s walking and lensless photography workshop ‘Noise in the Frame’. During this workshop, participants placed a handmade pinhole camera in the environment for a day-long exposure. Whilst they waited for the image to expose, they walked around the nearby area to record, take-notes, and capture the full atmosphere of the light, sound, and place they were in.
The image below is an outcome from the day-long exposure.
