Wilderland

Wilderland is a public art and community ecology project in Mayo connecting people to their local environment through a 2-year programme of creative public engagement, embedded research, and art in the landscape. It brings artists and creatives working in environmental awareness and socially engaged practice to Wild Nephin National Park, to respond creatively to the landscape and engage with local communities to explore their lived experience of place.

Wilderland is a creative exploration of where the wild places are and what they mean to us. It asks us to consider how we position ourselves in relation to the natural world, and how our daily actions can have far-reaching impacts on ecological systems.

The project aims to create a public space for discussion about the biodiversity and climate crises and explore our relationship to our environment through creative workshops and climate awareness events that promote sustainable use of materials and stewardship of the landscape, using collaborative, co-creative activities to initiate conversation about how we use and protect our natural environment, its resources and its plant and animal life.

Wilderland is funded by Creative Ireland’s Creative Climate Action Fund. The project intends to raise awareness of the biodiversity crisis, encourage people-led climate action, and foster support for Wild Nephin National Park’s creation of a wilderness sanctuary for biodiversity and habitat preservation.

Wilderland is a partnership project between the National Parks and Wildlife Service, North Mayo Heritage Centre, Mayo County Council Arts Service and Environment, Climate Change and Agriculture Department, TASC Think-tank for Action on Social Change, artist Elaine Harrington and the Materials Matter Collective - artists working for sustainability and environmental awareness within the processes of art production.

Find out more on our website wilderland.ie

The Creative Climate Action Fund

Wilderland is a recipient of the Creative Climate Action fund, an initiative from the Creative Ireland Programme. It is funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The fund supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empower citizens to make meaningful behavioural transformations.

Find out more about Creative Ireland's Creative Climate Action Fund projects.