Kinship

Kinship was a poetry and sound project – part of a wider place-based programme, Nature Connects Us which sees Norfolk & Norwich Festival working with Norfolk Wildlife Trust at their newly acquired Sweet Briar Marshes site on the outskirts of Norwich.

Nature Connect Us explores how the arts can be an engaging and affective means of supporting communities to make meaningful and lasting connections to nature and their local green spaces.

‘It’s definitely made me think I need to look out to nature more… trying to ground myself more and enjoying the moment as we’re so easily lost in our thoughts.’ Participant

‘I loved taking moments throughout the walk to think about what was around me’ Participant

For Kinship, writer Daisy Henwood collaborated with musician Milly Kirby to explore how young people and their communities relate to nature. Daisy ran a series of family-friendly workshops in the Mile Cross and Marlpit areas adjacent to Sweet Briar Marshes culminating in a sound piece capturing the voices of the marsh.

This commission provided Daisy with the opportunity to further her creative practice and create a new piece of work that was presented to an audience at the opening of the site in May 2024. By having time to immerse herself in the landscape and local community, she was able to tell a new story about nature.

‘I’ve encountered cows, built trees out of Lego, made origami frogs and written haiku on paper leaves all in the name of understanding how the local community relate to nature… I’m turning their words into poems to capture the ways children and their families experience the outdoors, and we relate to nature and each other.’ Daisy Henwood

Listen to the Kinship sound piece

Nature Connects Us on Future Radio

Artists

Daisy Henwood and Milly Kirby

Location

Sweet Briar Marshes, Norwich, Norfolk

Participants

Families from the Baseline Centre, The Phoenix Centre & Reception and Year 2 pupils from Mile Cross Primary School

Partners

Norfolk Wildlife Trust

Special thanks to Simone and Azura, Sophie Little and Anna Perrott at SOUNDYARD.