Nature cares for you
Immersive art installation at Dunham Massey, a National Trust estate near Manchester, open to the public for six months in 2025. Field Hospital for Eco-Anxiety featured printed matter, furniture, plants, books and a soundscape made by house plants. The project was created in collaboration with The Edible Bus Stop and Internal Garden.
With/for: National Trust (2025)
As you enter, beautiful banners with illustrations adapted from The Anatomy of Plants by Nehemiah Grew, held in Dunham Massey’s archive, reveal the complex internal structures of plants and encourage a deeper connection with the natural world. Around you The Orangery has been filled with lush tropical plants that you can hear as well as see thanks to biosonification. To ground your visit, you are invited to take a seat and pause or engage with an activity sheet that offers ways to connect with nature, chat about how the climate crisis makes you feel, and take action for nature.
Today around 70% of young people in the UK are worried about the climate crisis, but we are all more disconnected from nature than ever. Growing evidence suggests that being in green spaces – whether actively gardening, or passively listening to bird song – benefits your mental health. A report by the Wildlife Trusts found that provided at scale, nature connection projects for those suffering from mental health conditions could save the NHS £635 million pounds.
Field Hospital for Eco Anxiety is a proposal for the creation of more space in our communities to connect with nature. Creating more accessible green places is good but even just taking a few minutes out of your day to stop and notice nature can have huge benefits.
Visitors were invited to take these simple ideas and activities home with them. The pick-me-up included information including our eco-anxiety ABC, advice and activities that people of all ages could do in their own life to reconnect with the natural world and decide on a level of climate action that works for them. It doubled as a poster creating an object that people would want to take home and hold onto.
