‘Public Garden Solutions’

Sam Wills (artist) and Lira Valencia (ecologist) are two friends who first met while working as teenage cashiers at Ikea Croydon. Their collaborative project Public Garden Solutions combines Lira’s expertise in urban wildlife and nature conservation with Sam’s public realm artistic practice. Via creative public gardening interventions, community and educational workshops and discussions, and a number of strategically placed swift bird boxes that double as public sculptures, the project aims to explore the possibility of a human and non-human coalition in service of local interests.

Playing out over the long term, the project hopes to create the conditions for an ongoing discussion regarding Croydon’s biodiversity and reveal any future planning decisions that may undermine the security of its local ecology.

Engaging with the changing landscape of Croydon, which is navigating between threats to public spaces and the promises of a profit-driven regeneration, the project hopes to nest itself within this gap of uncertainty.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Join us in one of our numerous events or workshops! If you’d like to assist us by getting your hands dirty by gardening in unusual spots throughout the borough, or by taking part in a discussion regarding the relationship between developments and the local wildlife communities keep your eyes peeled.

‘Public Garden Solutions’ is one of the artist projects within Turf Projects’ latest commission series Desire Paths, as part of This Is Croydon, London Borough of Culture 2023.