The second story I’d like to share is much more conventionally a ‘story’. It is an imaginative story about our changing world.
Participatory arts-based research was carried out through a pair of storytelling workshops led by local storyteller, Liz Weir. These workshops brought together young people aged 17-26 from rural Northern Ireland to explore how the Northern Irish countryside has changed and will continue to change in the future.
The outcome? Each young person got to write and tell their own short story about the future of the countryside, set in 2050. Liz Weir wove together one narrative bringing together elements of each of the individual stories. This story, plus memories shared of the past countryside, were turned into a beautiful map and story by designer Ellie Shipman.
The final narrative is a complex mixture of positive and negative, which I think is a truer reflection of reality than some conventional narratives on the future and environmental change.
This work was kindly supported by additional participatory research funding from Research England.