ARE YOU Feeling oversaturated?
You are invited to join me in search of queer resilience at the bog. I am currently artist in residence with Natur am Byth, exploring secretive species living on the fringe in the Swansea Bay Area. During my research, I’ve become infatuated with the Fen Raft Spider and discovered the overlooked Crymlyn Bog. Both this species and the place have been through a lot, often misunderstood, and I want to share my care and appreciation for them with you.
I invite you to participate in three workshops that explore queer and ecological resilience in times of oversaturation. We will consider how this hidden habitat and its secretive species mirror queer experiences of living on the margins. Together, we’ll explore interspecies care, learning from the bog how to create space for ourselves, care for the environment, and reimagine belonging in times of ecological, societal, and emotional oversaturation.
No knowledge of art is required—just a willingness to get involved in this supportive space. Workshops are for LGBTQIA+ folk and are free. Your participation and the community we create will shape the final artwork for the project.
With love from the bog,
Vivian <3
Workshops are currently underway - thanks to everyone who signed up!
Sun 12 Jan 2025, 11am - 1pm, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
A session to meet, get us thinking, and learn about the project, species and habitats. Together, we will play with themes of queer resilience, belonging and habitat oversaturation. We will learn about queer nature and ecology and imagine gentle futures.
Sun 19 Jan 2025, 11am - 3pm, Crymlyn bog
Did you know there's a 300 hectare quaking bog in Swansea? This site is a mystery to so many Swansea residents, tucked away behind Amazon, next to an old oil refinery, bombed in the war, this is the ultimate secretive site of resilience. As we explore the area, I will lead a workshop for us to find ways of embodying place and making offerings to this habitat.
Sun 26 Jan 2025, 11am - 1pm, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
This session gives us a chance to reflect on our site visit and pull together what we have learnt into art work. I am writing a series of performance invitations throughout this project, your ideas and reflections will become part of the final work, if you choose.
---
This is a site-specific project run by Vivian Ross-Smith as part of her residency with Natur am Byth! This public programming engages LGBTQIA+ communities with Secretive Species that are often overlooked and unloved living between urban and rural areas in the Swansea Bay area.
This project is made possible through support and funding from Natural Resources Wales, Addo Creative, Bug Life, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council Wales.
