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Waymarkers and Memorable Places
Vanessa will engage young people in the New Forest through visual art workshops, helping them explore their environment and express personal experiences in a shared community artwork. A young person will intern with them in Venice to gain international experience.
vanessacollingridge.com
2025-01-26T
The first workshop took place at spudWORKS, New Forest and brought together a small group of young people to reflect on what it is like to grow up as a teenager in a forested landscape. Through open discussion, participants shared their everyday experiences of the forest — from places of freedom and escape to spaces that feel isolating, overlooked, or deeply personal. Conversations moved between stories of hanging out with friends, finding quiet spots to think, navigating boundaries set by adults, and the unique sense of belonging that comes from living so closely with nature.
Using these discussions as a starting point, the group began creating visual work inspired by waymarkers and memorable places within the forest. Participants identified paths they regularly travel, locations tied to strong memories, and unofficial landmarks that hold meaning for them but may not appear on maps. These places were translated into drawings, symbols, and treating waymarkers not only as navigational tools but as carriers of personal narrative.
The workshop established a collaborative atmosphere where individual experiences were valued and shared, laying the groundwork for a collective artwork rooted in the lived realities of young people in the New Forest. It marked the beginning of a process that centres their voices, allowing the forest to be seen not just as a landscape, but as a space shaped by memory, identity, and teenage life.
Using these discussions as a starting point, the group began creating visual work inspired by waymarkers and memorable places within the forest. Participants identified paths they regularly travel, locations tied to strong memories, and unofficial landmarks that hold meaning for them but may not appear on maps. These places were translated into drawings, symbols, and treating waymarkers not only as navigational tools but as carriers of personal narrative.
The workshop established a collaborative atmosphere where individual experiences were valued and shared, laying the groundwork for a collective artwork rooted in the lived realities of young people in the New Forest. It marked the beginning of a process that centres their voices, allowing the forest to be seen not just as a landscape, but as a space shaped by memory, identity, and teenage life.