The artist as a young bug: looking at the environment through the eyes of other species

Two visiting artists helped QE pupils take a fresh look at familiar spaces through a project that embraced a variety of materials and techniques and got them out and about in the School grounds.

This story has been published to coincide with World Art Day – celebrated annually on 15th April. #WorldArtDay

The Year 8 project, entitled Traces, Places & Possible Futures — A Multispecies City, asked pupils to consider who and what lives alongside them, including plants, insects and other animals, and microbes.

Professional artists Abigail Hunt and Sum-Sum (Ngan-Sum) Tse-Cappi led three workshops, before the project culminated in a public exhibition of the boys’ work – and of pupils from Barnet’s Northway School and Chalgrove Primary School – at the Apthorp Gallery in North Finchley’s ArtsDepot.

Head of Art Craig Wheatley said: “This was an interactive and imaginative series of workshops, which celebrated students’ creativity and collaborative learning, while the exhibition amplified young people’s voices in conversations about future environments.”

Organised by the Art Department in collaboration with ArtsDepot, the project involved photography, construction and the use of clay and plaster during the workshops. The boys were encouraged to explore the spaces they live, learn and play in – and then reimagine them through sculpture, mapping, and collaborative making.

Through creative exploration the boys were encouraged to reflect on responsibility, care and respect for other species, and to imagine future environments that support coexistence. As well as living creatures, the project considered weather systems.

Across the linked workshops, pupils engaged with a process of observation, interpretation and construction, working with drawing, photography, casting and collage.

In Workshop 1, pupils explored their immediate environment through a multispecies lens. By exploring the area around the School, pupils were encouraged to record traces made by fauna and flora. They documented their findings through drawings, photographs, rubbings and clay moulds, which are developed into plaster tiles. Discussions introduce multispecies mapping, highlighting human routes alongside animal paths, insect highways and plant borders.

Workshop 2 focused on interpretation and design. Pupils collaborated on large-scale maps of the School and outdoor spaces, identifying how both humans and non-humans use these areas. They imagined themselves as other species, asking what those beings might need to thrive. Photographs from the first workshop were transformed into collage habitats, and pupils exchanged ‘creature postcards’ with the other participating schools, sharing design ideas.

In Workshop 3, pupils started to create ideas for building sculptural ecosystems and prototype habitats using found materials. Through these imaginative structures, they explored shelter, movement and connection for different species. Conversations around sustainability, impermanence and life cycles encouraged the boys to think critically about different environments, and to create environments to support real multispecies life. Pupils documented their work through photography and recorded stories, contributing to the final exhibition.

• Click on the thumbnails below to view the images.