When we step outside the house into our urban sprawl, how often do we stop to explore the little details that naturally rise out of the concrete? Be it an unsuspecting bug or lichen that has attached itself to a steel doorway or brick wall, there’s beauty all around if you slow down your footsteps and look for it.
Photographer and artist Anna Hillman has aided just that with her Amazingness project, part of slowLab, which promotes slow design. Hillman is raising awareness of the subtle and complex interaction of nature in the urban environment and invites individuals to capture it through photography. “I’m constantly finding amazing things – a pale green lichen growing on a bright pink fence, fascinating in its intricacy and oddness; a leaf caught in some fencing glowing intensely orange in the sun…things that continually lift my spirits and make me glad to be alive. These first-hand experiences, coupled with an underlying fascination with biology, a strong environmental ethic and a desire to share this wonderment, and the benefits it yields, with others, are my inspirations.”
This provides the opportunity for everyone to discover the natural treasure close to them and share with others.
“Every day the sky is different, seasons change, different flowers grow, buildings weather, shadows appear and disappear, rain drops splash, puddles dry up, blossom tumbles in the wind, colours change with the changing light…there is always something new to enjoy.”
For the project to be widely appreciated, Hillman employed “Guerrilla Graphics” where she took chalk and placed bold, handwritten message in unusual and often surprising locations across the city of London. It is her call to action for those on daily auto-pilot to notice and engage more deeply in everyday places, using all the five senses.
“I did once get in a bit of trouble for guerrilla graffiti-ing outside someone’s house…until I explained what I was doing and why, and then he was much happier and let me get on with it – I was chalk writing: ‘AMAZING sprouting plants’.”
“The words “FEEL ME” invite a passerby to stroke soft patches of moss atop a brick wall, while the message “LOOK AT THE SKY” on a pathway reminds people to enjoy the nature that floats eternally above their heads.”
jorg&olif particularly loved the inviting message scrawled by a park bench: “Take a minute….Watch the world go by.”
Hillman further adds, “Exploring is easy and brilliant, although it does involve being open to, and aware of your immediate environment, which can sometimes be hard, especially if you’re in a hurry or too preoccupied. It’s a process, facilitated by slowing down and becoming consciously engaged with where you are, your ‘here and now’. I find that having a camera can really help at first, as it gives me, and others, a reason to focus. I find that I can spend hours on the same street exploring with my camera. Other times, if I’m in a hurry, when I notice something amazing I’ll pause, investigate quickly, appreciate it, smile, then move on.”
Amazingness can work both ways: having something not particularly pleasant highlighted allows individuals to re-connect and make positive change…
I have a friend whose mother developed a touch of environmental activism at a later age. For a time she was known, like Hillman, to highlight certain aspects of daily life, although in her case it was by placing little flags on dog dirt in her local park with amusing messages including “Mind your step!”, “Is this yours?” as well as “Are free removal services offered?”
It turns out that you don’t always need to fall down the rabbit hole to meet the Madhatter.
Amazingly, in the terror of being caught and embarrassed by this eccentric individual, the regular dog walkers quickly learned to scoop up after their canines and the space was once again clean and green.
If you would like to feel inspired to leave your own positive messages around your area, look at Hillman’s 150 page photography book, bursting with thought-provoking text and diagrams that explore the relationship between organic and synthetic.
Images courtesy of Anna Hillman
