‘My involvement with the project began in the Summer of 2023 documenting the restoration of Denton Moor, with a focus on highlighting the importance of community participation in monitoring upland peatlands and the environmental impact of restoration.
My approach has been shaped by on-site environmental photography, working alongside local communities, conservationists, grassroots stakeholder groups, ecologists, and artists to bring the restoration process to life in an accessible and meaningful way.
On a warm summer day on the peatland, Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP) hosted three groups exploring the landscape through poetry, drawing, and citizen science. Each group observed, recorded, and interacted with the environment in their own way, all part of YPP’s ‘ACE Bogs’ initiative. Through volunteering and participating in long-term citizen science projects, people are becoming more connected to the peatlands and their restoration, gaining a deeper understanding of these fragile ecosystems.
The art project aimed to encourage people to engage with the moorland and create. Image: Juliet Klottrup During one of the days on site, a group of local naturalists surveyed the area, employing direct observation “ground truthing” by recording their observations on foot within a specific on-site area.
‘Sedges have edges, rushes are round’; with their knees deep in the moss when a new variety of plant was identified, the Wharfedale Naturalists told me about its origins and asked me to photograph it for its importance while they took notes and examined the plant materials.
At time likes this, when I am making images on the site, I’m thinking about the audience and sharing it to individuals who may otherwise be unable to spend time in these environments but want to understand and engage with them.
An exhibition of the artistic outputs from the ACE Bog project will be held in the Manor House Gallery in Ilkley on weekends between April 12 and April 27. yppartnership.org.uk
Juliet Klottrup is an award-winning visual artist based in the North West of England, her work explores the relationship between people and their connection to place.
julietklottrup.com
Instagram @julietklottrup
Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP) has been restoring North Yorkshire’s peat for 15 years. The ACE Bogs project, funded through Nidderdale National Landscape and taking place on Denton Reserve, aims to engage the community in peatlands through citizen science, and elicit their responses – in poetry or visual arts – to the astonishing landscapes above them.
