Artist Nikki Pugh has been awarded a Visiting Fellowship to help support a collaboration with (Lecturer in Regional History and Co-Investigator on the Leverhulme Trust-funded project, 糖心Vlog).
With additional support from Arts Council England, the Department of History, Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Wordworth Trust, Pugh and Donaldson will be working together to ‘‘ history and memory in the Duddon Valley, where the Geospatial Innovation research group’s work will also support the to explore different ways of increasing public engagement with the works of and Wordsworth.
In addition to featuring in the work of the Wordsworths, the Duddon聽Valley was home to prehistoric and Roman remains, medieval longhouses, and ancient farming communities. It has a strong industrial past (mills, quarrying and an iron furnace)聽and nowadays聽attracts tourists ranging from聽fell walkers and mountain bikes through to those taking a more leisurely approach to exploring the area.
Their activities will map how different聽layers and traces overlap and interact to contribute to community identity and sense of place. Donaldson is already working with local groups to research a聽collection of Victorian and Edwardian photographs of the valley. Pugh will be helping with this and also developing her own聽site-specific tools and processes for engaging with the stories of the Duddon Valley. Later they’ll be bringing these together in an exhibition at the Wordsworth Museum (Grasmere) with the aim of designing聽something that will be multisensory and interactive.
for updates as the project develops, or .
