Grounded

Grounded by Stephanie Wynne

Stephanie was approrached by the GroundsWell consortium to collaborate with communities in receipt of the Community Innovation Fund to produce work for an exhibition highlighting research into green and blue spaces.

GroundsWell research is mainly in three cities—Belfast, Edinburgh, and Liverpool. These cities are similar in some ways but also have unique features that make them good case studies. Although each city already has programs to improve green spaces, there's still room for improvement, which is where GroundsWell steps in. We work closely with communities to understand how the cities work, identify any issues, and find ways to fix or improve them. They also focus on preventing problems by planning changes that will enhance how green spaces are used and managed, both in policies and in the daily lives of community members.

Stephanie constructed pictures to portray different aspects of each project and location by playing with perspective and details.

'Having physical contact with and being aware of the details of the natural environment -contemplating and experiencing what surrounds us - being in green and blue spaces keeps us 'Grounded' Being connected to what is beneath your feet, whether plants, earth or water, helps stabilise your physical and mental health.'

The pictures have been created with the collaboration of group members some including the words, photographs and artworks of the participants.

The work was shown in 2024 at the Open Eye Gallery and the Royal College of Physicians Liverpool. In 2025 it is scheduled for exhibition in Edinburgh.

Lets Paddle for Positive Change

Waterside Academy with the Canal River Trust

A serene paddle boarder on the Leeds Liverpool Canal, in Merseyside, looks down into the water. Beneath the surface, the canal is a green chaotic tangle of water lily roots and runners.

Community Ownership Business Development

East Side Partnership

Community volunteers help maintain the park area close to the pavilion - a proposed community development project - in Orangefield Park, Belfast. They want the park and pavilion to be accessible and welcoming. The nearby Conns Water is brackish, recently its waters have welcomed young flounder and elvers travelling from the open sea and Belfast Lough into the river.

Community Kitchen Garden

Whale Arts

The group portrait was taken collaboratively with Belle Thomson, one of the children in the Smarties children’s art group, Whale Arts, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh. A layer of fennel is placed across the picture referencing the ‘kitchen garden’ along with a sculpture, created by the Smarties group, of play equipment that they would like to see in a renovated outside space

Growing Up Healthy Together

Belfast Hills Partnership

As a reward for their hard work studying the natural environment the children from Good Shepherd Primary School, Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, are taken up onto Divis. To enjoy the space, to walk, see ancient archaeology, play and pond dip in the dark ponds just below the crest of the mountain. They found a newt tadpole - a “wee dragon” in their net

Inclusive Beach Activity Programme

Mae Murray Foundation

Cranfield Beach Newry. Northern Ireland. Paddle boarders of all abilities experience floating and paddling across the sea at the mouth of Carlingford Lough. Beneath the surface, at the tide line, small pebbles and weeds are transformed into jewels by the clear water

Healthy Places Healthy Children

Belfast Healthy Cities

The children of Springhill Primary School, Belfast, are surveying the school grounds and local area with a view to inputting what they would like to see in a renovated outdoor space and learning area. The current outdoor play area is unusable some of the children liked the idea of more grass hence the picture includes a lush turf placed across the play area with their ideas hidden in the grass.

Waterways to Wellbeing

Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust

Fountainbridge staff and supporters are reflected in the water as the lift bridge is raised, the new developments and traditional Edinburgh buildings adjoining the canal are also reflected. The canal bank is a busy thoroughfare for commuters, cyclists and runners, whilst the calm water, is paradoxically, visually complex.

Splash the Light Fantastic

SAFE Regeneration Bootle Community Canal Project

In high summer the plant life is abundant along this length of canal creating shelter for moorhens, swans and coots. The towpath is a place of calm from urban Bootle, Merseyside. Community activities and events are held nearby and by autumn the brightly coloured lights from an evening community kayak disrupt the surface of the water

Dock Branch Neighbourhood Community Panel

Wirral Council

Students from Wirral Met College photograph and survey the abandoned railway line. In a different world below the streets of Birkenhead, Merseyside. Crisscrossed by bridges, supported on Victorian brick arches, the space is overwhelmed by plant life. Clambering up, across and covering the line as it waits for the creation of the new linear park.

Nature in Linacre

South Sefton Development Trust - Regenerus

Community bulb planting at Poets Park Bootle, Merseyside, encouraged families and children to plant daffodil bulbs across a grassy area of this small local park. The children where both fascinated and methodical in their task spending time with their hands in the earth. Small pockets of land and parks are being highlighted for planting across the Linacre ward.