HomeNewsNature Calling – Writers, rappers and poets unveil their new work

Nature Calling – Writers, rappers and poets unveil their new work

Nature Calling, a ground-breaking national project led by National Landscapes Association and executive and creative producers, Activate Performing Arts are thrilled to reveal five written pieces to inspire community connection to England’s 34 National Landscapes. Visit www.naturecalling.org.uk to enjoy the written pieces and to discover more. Dorset poet and writer, Louisa Adjoa Parker is one […]

Nature Calling, a ground-breaking national project led by National Landscapes Association and executive and creative producers, Activate Performing Arts are thrilled to reveal five written pieces to inspire community connection to England’s 34 National Landscapes.

Visit www.naturecalling.org.uk to enjoy the written pieces and to discover more.

Dorset poet and writer, Louisa Adjoa Parker is one of the writers unveiling a new work today; This Patch of Land, celebrating those who live and work in the landscape of the county was created after her extensive travels around Dorset gathering stories through conversations and visits with farmers, local residents, school children and youth & community groups, among others.

Read Louisa’s poem and find out about her creative process here

Written pieces are the first phase in a national season of art for 2025, co-created with local communities, that celebrate National Landscapes.

BBC 6 Music favourite, Manchester’s OneDa has created ‘Connections’ and MOBO award winning Still Shadey from Croydon with his striking piece ‘Nature’s Anthem’ are among the writers who have created pieces inspired by a National Landscape and designed to connect local communities with these special places.

In 2025 Nature Calling is bringing together the 34 National Landscapes in England, local arts organisations and community groups from within a 30-minute journey time of their nearby National Landscape in an ambitious new national arts programme. They are working together to co-create artworks inspired by these iconic places and the results will be shared with the public in a Season of Art from May – October 2025, reaching an audience of tens of thousands.

The artists commissioned as part of Nature Calling are: Rappers OneDa, Still Shadey; artists Rob St John, Blandy and Locke, Matthew Rosier, Becca Gill; writers Louisa Adjoa Parker, Lee Nelson, Ayesha Chouglay. The poets, writers and rappers have worked with communities in Dorset, Yeovil, Weston-Super-Mare Burnley, East and West Lindsey (Lincolnshire) and New Addington in Croydon. Nature Calling’s written commissions come from different perspectives and invite new conversations about who is accessing the landscape today.

The poems and raps released today inspire and reflect on new feelings of connection to these iconic places.

John Watkins, Chief Executive of the National Landscapes Association said:

“I’m thrilled with the quality and range of written and spoken pieces we’re releasing today as part of the Nature Calling programme. The pieces are incredibly poignant, they are moving and meaningful and beautifully conjure up what the writers felt and thought whilst in a National Landscape. Our aim, through Nature Calling is to support people from all walks of life to find new ways to connect with their National Landscapes on their terms – either for the first or the thousandth time – to discover and share their unique connection. There is truly something for everyone amongst these pieces.” 

Kate Wood and Bill Gee of Activate Performing Arts, Co-Executive Artistic Producers said:

“All these writers have made such thoughtful and fresh responses to these old and special landscapes, they are a brilliant start and inspiration to the larger programme of major commissions that will be revealed in the Spring that will engage so many people both who live within and without the National Landscapes.”

Fresh from a 2024 including multiple award wins and the release of her debut album ‘Formula OneDa’, OneDa’s ‘Connections’ rap brings to life her visits to the Forest of Bowland National Landscape:

“Yet the city keeps me grounded
Grounded and bounded
Forest of Bowland had boundaries to be broken
Astounded by what I had founded
A place where escapism resounded
Dry Stone Walls in my mind to come down
Freedom awaits those who aren’t afraid to to go Find It
seek beauty beneath the troubled exterior of life and behind It
Terrains that stretches
No phone signal so my mind’s invested”

2022 MOBO ‘Best gospel act’ Still Shadey’s piece Nture’s Anthem

“I was lower than lows
In a place where I can’t cope, woah
They all wanna know
But the words can’t leave my throat
Choke
I was tired of speaking
In my heart there was a hole
And then I found me a freedom
started filling it with gold

Now I’m richer than these celebrities that I see on TV
They want material wealth I got green energy
That’s something you cannot own
The greatest gift you can see
Higher echelon, I’m talking about the orchid family

That’s rare species
Ironic, I can’t find someone like me
Oxygen is everywhere so why can’t I breathe?
Ran away from trauma and made new memories”

Poet Lee Nelson was inspired by his visits to the Chilterns National Landscape as a child, and his more recent visits with his own son and community groups from his hometown of Luton, the result is a short collection of nine poems.

Lee says of his work:

“From the beginning I had an idea of the basics of what I wanted the poems to ‘say’. It was important that things not be too much from one point of view – the intention is to draw people out [to the countryside near Luton] to see for themselves and being told that some old geezer knows better what they should be looking at is unlikely to achieve much in that direction.”

Lee’s poems also frame the next stage of the Nature Calling project – the recreation of a real-life henge for Luton by artist Matt Rosier.

Dorset based poet Louisa Adjoa Parker says:

“I lived in Dorset for 25 years and have always loved being out in the landscape and learning as much as I can, but the commission for Nature Calling gave me the opportunity to find out so much more. I heard from children and young people, farmers and land managers, people with accessibility needs, artists, storytellers, and archaeological or wildlife experts, and this brought the land to life and every conversation helped shape the poem. What shone out most for me was how enthusiastic people were to talk about their relationship with landscape and nature – I hope that Nature Calling will help more people to feel confident to visit and enjoy these places.”

National Landscapes include places synonymous with British culture, such as Willy Lott’s Farm in Dedham Vale National Landscape – familiar as Constable’s ‘The Hay Wain’; the iconic silhouette of Pendle Hill in Forest of Bowland National Landscape – instantly recognisable in the north of England as the centre of the Pendle witch scare of 1612; and Bodmin Moor in Cornwall National Landscape – the brooding location of classic novels Poldark and Jamaica Inn.

There are 46 National Landscapes across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. They cover 15% of England, 20% of the coastline and are home to 10% of the UK’s farmland. Teams across these instantly recognisable locations – the nation’s nearby countryside – are uniting to inspire visitors old and new to find exciting ways to engage with their local landscape in 2025,

The project is coordinated by the National Landscapes Association and executive creative producers, Dorset-based Activate Performing Arts. Poetry School are supporting the work nationally and geographically spread National Landscapes will operate as key hubs of activity including Chilterns, Dorset, Forest of Bowland, Lincolnshire Wolds and Surrey Hills.

 

Photo Credits:

Headline photo. Dancing Ledge; Nigel Gidney

Louisa Adjoa Parker; Robin Mills

Burstock from Pilsdon Pen; Tony Gill

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