Introduce yourself
Hi, I’m Holly. I’m an artist, creative health practitioner and researcher. I’ve been working for over 25 years across arts, wellbeing, community and heritage, often with people who don’t always feel that cultural spaces are for them.
Alongside that, I have my own visual practice, which explores connection to nature through sensory and material-based processes.
Tell us more about your practice
My practice sits across two areas that feed into each other. In my own work, I explore the relationship between people and the natural world. I use analogue and cameraless photography, sound, and plant-based processes, where materials like soil, plants and light act as collaborators in the work. I’m interested in deep listening, attention, and how we experience the world through the body and senses. A lot of this work is about slowing down, noticing, and creating spaces where people can reconnect, both with nature and with themselves.
Alongside that, I work in a very collaborative way with groups. I design and facilitate projects where people can explore creativity in a way that feels safe, open and led by them. That work is grounded in care, trust and listening.
The two parts are closely connected. The way I work with materials, pace and attention in my own practice directly shapes how I work with people. It’s about creating the conditions where something can emerge, rather than deciding it in advance.
Why did you want to work on the BRIDGES project?
I was really drawn to Bridges because it holds space for that kind of long-term, relational work. It’s not just about delivering sessions, it’s about building something over time with a group. The focus on connection, care and pace really aligns with how I work. Creating a steady rhythm, allowing things to develop gradually, and supporting young people to shape something that feels genuinely theirs. I was also interested in Kettle’s Yard as a setting. The Kettle’s Yard house invites you to slow down and notice, and that links closely to my own practice around attention, rest and how people experience a space.
What are you looking forward to with this project?
I’m looking forward to getting to know the groups and seeing what matters to them, and letting the work grow from that. I’m interested in how we can create spaces within the sessions that feel a bit different — calmer, more open, or more playful — especially for young people who might be tired, under pressure or carrying a lot.
I’m also looking forward to how my own practice feeds into that. Bringing in ways of working with colour, material, listening and the senses, and seeing how that connects with the young people’s ideas. And I’m looking forward to seeing what the work becomes. I don’t have a fixed outcome in mind, which feels important. The aim is that it’s something meaningful, ambitious and genuinely shaped by them.
