Nature’s Embrace is a collaborative project that sought to amplify nature connectedness, intertwining sensory engagement and community involvement to uplift psychological well-being. (Tate, 2017) The project unfolds at Mill Park Nature Reserve, Long Buckby, Northamptonshire, a site imbued with profound significance derived from its positive role in my journey through depression, mirrored in the site's own evolution from a landfill site to a nature reserve.

I collaborated with filmmaker Ashley Malin, poet Markus Wilson, Green Spaces community group, Muddy Toes charity, and the reserve itself. The project unfurled through two socially engaged events. Participants were invited to delve into eco-paint mark-making activities, utilising materials sourced from the reserve itself, fostering a tactile connection with their surroundings.

The inaugural event catered to Muddy Toes community group, a forest school group, guiding them to express themselves through sensory exploration and mark-making. Subsequent gatherings extended the invitation to all visitors and reserve volunteers, focusing on introspective engagement and dialogue, transcending predetermined outcomes to emphasise the transformative process.

Concurrently Ashley Malin captures the unfolding events through time-lapse footage, weaving together the essence of the reserve and the participants' expressive creations. Markus Wilson crafts a poem from the words and conversations of the events, enriching the sensory experience through sound.

The culmination manifests in six textile hangings and a short film, marrying moving image and poetic verse with the tactile quality of textiles to evoke profound emotional resonance. Displayed during the Easter holidays, the artwork invited visitors to immerse themselves in a heightened sensory journey, facilitated by QR codes for accessible engagement and as a legacy allowing for long term access to the project.