Land Body Ecologies: The London hub

Authors

  • Ilan Kelman University College London and University of Agder

    Ilan Kelman http://www.ilankelman.org and X/Instagram/Threads @ILANKELMAN is Professor of Disasters and Health at University College London, England and a Professor II at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. His overall research interest is linking disasters and health, integrating climate change into both. Three main areas are: (i) disaster diplomacy and health diplomacy http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org ; (ii) island sustainability involving safe and healthy communities in isolated locations http://www.islandvulnerability.org ; and (iii) risk education for health and disasters http://www.riskred.org

  • Victoria Pratt Invisible Flock

    Invisible Flock is an award-winning interactive arts studio operating at the intersection of art, science, and technology. We are artist-led with the aim being to open up critically important ways of thinking about how we live, how we connect and share to live better together in a global society. We infiltrate many sectors aiming to have a creative impact on ecology, politics, health, and society and to expose wherever possible that everything is fluid and can be rebuilt and reconfigured to be better.

  • Ayesha Ahmad image/svg+xml St George's, University of London

    Ayesha Ahmad is a Reader in Global Health Humanities, St George's University of London and a co-investigator with Land Body Ecologies, exploring mental distress among land-dependent and Indigenous communities. Her work primarily stems from an interest in conflict-related trauma. She has worked on developing trauma therapeutic interventions using traditional storytelling in Afghanistan. This work developed into a collaboration with Tunisia, Turkey, South Africa, Afghanistan, and Kashmir (India) called Storytelling for Health; Acknowledgement, Expression, and Recovery (SHAER). Dr Ahmad works as an Expert Witness to provide academic reports for asylum seekers suffering from mental disorders. She founded Global Health Humanities at St George's University of London and is developing research on the role of traditional storytelling for healing from war trauma.

  • Amy Balderston Invisible Flock

    Invisible Flock is an award-winning interactive arts studio operating at the intersection of art, science, and technology. We are artist-led with the aim being to open up critically important ways of thinking about how we live, how we connect and share to live better together in a global society. We infiltrate many sectors aiming to have a creative impact on ecology, politics, health, and society and to expose wherever possible that everything is fluid and can be rebuilt and reconfigured to be better.

  • Catherine Baxendale Invisible Flock

    Invisible Flock is an award-winning interactive arts studio operating at the intersection of art, science, and technology. We are artist-led with the aim being to open up critically important ways of thinking about how we live, how we connect and share to live better together in a global society. We infiltrate many sectors aiming to have a creative impact on ecology, politics, health, and society and to expose wherever possible that everything is fluid and can be rebuilt and reconfigured to be better.

  • Ben Eaton Invisible Flock

    Invisible Flock is an award-winning interactive arts studio operating at the intersection of art, science, and technology. We are artist-led with the aim being to open up critically important ways of thinking about how we live, how we connect and share to live better together in a global society. We infiltrate many sectors aiming to have a creative impact on ecology, politics, health, and society and to expose wherever possible that everything is fluid and can be rebuilt and reconfigured to be better.

  • Sheila Ghelani Independent and collaborative artist

    Sheila https://www.sheilaghelani.co.uk works as both an independent and collaborative artist, having made research-led performance work, place-responsive live art, moving image works, and social art projects engaging participants across age and background, in the UK and internationally for over 25 years. She is interested in the relationship between art and science with particular focus on hybridity informed by her own experience of being mixed heritage (Indian/English), and the practice of medicine and care.

  • Samrawit Gougsa image/svg+xml University College London

    Samrawit is Head of Communications at Minority Rights Group International, a non-governmental organisation seeking to safeguard the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide. Her research interests lie in understanding social determinants of health among marginalised communities, and the intersection between the enjoyment of land rights and mental health. Prior to joining Minority Rights Group International, Samrawit held communications roles with global health and development NGOs in Cambodia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She holds a MSc in Global Health and Development from University College London (UCL) and a BA in Journalism, Media and Communications Studies from Cardiff University.

  • Hsi-Nong Huang Invisible Flock

    Invisible Flock is an award-winning interactive arts studio operating at the intersection of art, science, and technology. We are artist-led with the aim being to open up critically important ways of thinking about how we live, how we connect and share to live better together in a global society. We infiltrate many sectors aiming to have a creative impact on ecology, politics, health, and society and to expose wherever possible that everything is fluid and can be rebuilt and reconfigured to be better.

  • Nqatyiswa Mendu image/svg+xml University of Sussex

    Nqatyiswa (also known as Nikki) holds a Master of Arts in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. She has a background in research, facilitation and communications in the Social Change sector and is highly interested in participatory community-led research methods. Nikki is a strong advocate for inclusivity, social justice and creative solutions, and has a keen interest in human rights-based approaches, policy-making, intersectional feminism, and transdisciplinary working in the fields of environment, health, and gender.

  • Cecilia Vilela Invisible Flock

    Cecilia has nine years of professional experience with the visual arts, ranging from public relations and communications to curatorial practices and project management. Her activities in the visual arts are guided by the common thread of 'articulation', in the broadest sense of the term: she organises words, artworks, ideas, and people. Cecilia is from Brazil, has been living in the UK for a decade, and is especially interested in exploring the articulations that are possible between European structures and perspectives of the Global South.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47818/DRArch.2023.v4si106

Keywords:

eco-anxiety, eco-inspiration, hope, solastalgia, trauma

Abstract

This photo essay and accompanying text visualize and represent the work that was based in London, UK of a collective project called Land Body Ecologies (LBE), a global transdisciplinary network exploring the deep interconnections of mental health and ecosystem health. LBE's research and action work combined science, art, and public engagement to understand and redress the ongoing crisis of land trauma among land-dependent and Indigenous peoples who nonetheless display remarkable resilience. The research and action have been rooted within communities seeking resilience for their interlinked culture, environment, and land rights, so that they could comprehend, document, and overcome the crises and traumas endured when their land suffers. LBE's London-based work is presented through photos of the arts-science-community space that anchored the work around the world.

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Published

2023-12-31

How to Cite

Kelman, I., Pratt, V., Ahmad, A., Balderston, A., Baxendale, C., Eaton, B., Ghelani, S., Gougsa, S., Huang, H.-N., Mendu, N., & Vilela, C. (2023). Land Body Ecologies: The London hub. Journal of Design for Resilience in Architecture and Planning, 4((Special Issue), 01–24. https://doi.org/10.47818/DRArch.2023.v4si106

Issue

Vol. 4 No. (Special Issue) (2023)

Section

Resilience in Crisis

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Ilan Kelman, Victoria Pratt, Ayesha Ahmad, Amy Balderston, Catherine Baxendale, Ben Eaton, Sheila Ghelani, Samrawit Gougsa, Hsi-Nong Huang, Nqatyiswa Mendu, Cecilia Vilela, Invisible Flock

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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