Blooming the Bio-Culturals
Blooming the Bio-Culturals: Making change at the intersection of bio-diversity and cultural diversity.
The woods as contested space
Not everyone feels welcome in the woods and not everyone feels safe. Recent and historical incidents under woodland cover may trigger deep-seated expectations of discrimination and even bodily harm for Black and ethnically diverse citizens, which may take a generation to heal.
Speculative Design
This wearable set of hard shell objects are speculative design experiments in embodied empathy. They are conceived as ‘armour’ for use in a woodland setting through which we can make visible and tangible the emotional landscape of prejudice and its impact on restricting our comfort in green space and in daily life.
Origin Story
This project grew out of my fascination with the healthy support for biodiversity in my thriving urban woodland, alongside persistent lack of action towards increasing the human cultural diversity in these and other urban woods.
The work helped locate essential links between bio and cultural diversity that need to be addressed. This project represents a wider research and activist intention to nurture a new generation of bio-culturally aware citizens.
Plaster crash helmet with reduced visibility gap, chin strap and protective leather collar
Halterneck chest shield over gold quilted doublet
As objects they include warmth, protective linings, lengthened sleeves and hardened shells to give a sense of protection and even invisibility.
Hard cast woodland armour includes rigid arm casts to protect from the wearer from the unpredictable, including weather and unfriendly human contact.
As garments nodding to fashion, they are striking in their obvious discomfort and resolute oddity, making the wearer more visible than ever before.