About Nature Calling
Nature Calling is a ground-breaking £2m national arts programme, designed to inspire new communities to connect with their local National Landscape, increase their access to nature, improve their wellbeing, and inspire a sense of belonging in these special places.
Writing Commission
Our commissioned writer and poet Ayesha Chouglay has written a four-poem short collection. Ayesha shared her notebook of observations, explorations, findings and completed written works with INSTAR to allow for ‘sparks of inspiration to naturally cultivate between both projects’.
Ayeshas poems:
| Listen to them cows beeling | Alvingham Road | Thoughts he might have had | Walk On |
Artist Commission - Shelf Life
Artists INSTAR have developed Shelf Life.
The title ‘Shelf Life’ reflects and plays on the lifespan of nature itself, the term for a product’s usability span and the idea of nature being ‘shelved’.
This is informed by how the landscape appears, how it has changed, and what is missing. Having observed where nature is retreating and how fields for farming have expanded, the artists have engaged with local farmers and landowners. Discovering that farming is secondary to the bigger issue of nature’s absence, they explore the tension between agriculture and ecology by considering the systems, policies, and social demands that drive a loss of nature and biodiversity.
INSTAR has created ‘Shelf Life’ to be deliberately fleeting, reimagining and repurposing traditional marketing and advertising billboard as artwork. The billboard is a sculptural intervention, a disruptive presence in the rural landscape, appearing and then vanishing as commentary on their observations. This large billboard is the centre of a short film and poem which showcases the loss of biodiversity and is a play on popular superstore advertisements. The film is seen as a starting point for aiding further positive conversations and collaborations with our local farmers, landowners and the wider public. A second documentary film summarises the artists’ thinking and motivations in the creation of Shelf Life.
Three smaller touring billboards have been developed through collaborations with local secondary schools and uses printmaking as a method of commentary through its graphic quality and as a medium often used for resistance.
So far INSTAR have engaged approximately 70 teenagers from secondary schools in Alford, Horncastle and Louth, who live in or are close to the Wolds, to create the print artwork inspired by themes of hope for nature and habitat. This work and the conversations held were instrumental in shaping their vision for the final work.
Creative producer Chelsey Everatt has, linked up with Magna Vitae, to develop and promote further public engagement with Shelf Life and the wider Nature Calling programme, see the Shelf Life dates below, taking place from June to August.
For more information about the whole Project visit Nature Calling.
The Nature Calling programme
In 2023, The National Landscapes Association, working with Activate Performing Arts, was absolutely thrilled to secure funding from Arts Council England (as part of the Lottery funded Nationally Significant Project stream) and Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) (as part of the Protected Landscapes Partnership) and National Landscapes in England to deliver Nature Calling. Nature Calling is designed to amplify new voices and create innovative artwork in collaboration with communities close to National Landscapes and building to a national 'season' sharing the work between May and October 2025.
Our national Executive Creative Producers Activate Performing Arts, have decades of experience of working with artists and community groups to create high quality outdoor art experiences.
26 National Landscapes and 2 National Parks are involved.