Youth Landscapers

Youth Landscapers are a group of young people from the Heart of the Forest who have come together to research and map the local area as part of Black to Green. Since January 2016 the group have been working with artist Jo Wheeler to develop a wide range of creative projects which have documented and responded to the rich industrial and natural heritage. Each project has also bought in artistic collaborators and specialists to share and develop skills within the group.

Youth Landscapers Exhibition

An imaginative exhibition exploring the natural, industrial and social history of the Heart of the Forest presented in the bridge loft at Moira Furnace during August 2016.

Under the Trees the Coal and the Clay

A short film created by Youth Landscapers with filmmaker Ian Nesbitt, drawing upon our landscape history and the pits, potteries and pipe yards of the past. This inter-generational project saw the group taking on roles behind and in front of the cameras, as well as interviewing residents about their memories and experiences of the local coal and clay industries.

You Are Here

A sound project developed with artist Rebecca Lee investigating sites and buildings in the Heart of the Forest that have witnessed and adapted to the landscape’s change from heavy industry to a green landscape. The group created a sound piece to share these stories and in July 2018 invited the public to experience a sound walk created for the National Forest’s Timber Festival.

For more info follow the Youth Landscapers blog.

If you live in the Heart of the Forest, are aged between 13-18 yrs and are interested in joining Youth Landscapers contact blacktogreen@nationalforest.org.