Wednesday 4 August 2021

Arrival drinks from 6pm. Event finishes at 8pm

Kinetika Studio, High House Production Park, Roman Way, Purfleet-on-Thames, Essex RM19 1AS

Parking: Free parking onsite outside the Royal Opera House Production Workshop, please follow the signs. Do not park in front of the shutters as lorries may be delivering and collecting goods.

Join us as we celebrate the Land of the Fanns and Kinetika's Community Mapping Project. Hear from the team who made it all possible - how the stories were collected, how the flags were designed and painted during lockdown, members of the local community who filmed their stories, the costumes created and the walks which took place to explore this wonderful landscape we live in. All of this comes together in a fascinating new book; Fens, Forests and Fields, which we are pleased to be launching with Ken Worpole and Tamara Stoll.

Background and further event information

The community mapping project began in 2019 with arts organisation Kinetika and artistic director Ali Pretty. The project aimed to record 100 stories from communities across the Land of the Fanns: 100 insights into the things that make a place meaningful to local people, that elevate a place from mundane to significant to a community, that create a connection to where people live.

Kinetika, working with local people during lockdown, created 100 silk flags to illustrate the 100 stories that were previously collected from the community and these will play a key role in this celebration event. Artist Jackie Creasey, and students from University Centre South Essex, created costumes which will be on display, bringing to life some of the characters and wildlife found in the landscape. Fascinating short films about special areas in the Land of the Fanns, produced by Rosa Productions and the local communities, will be shown throughout the evening.

All these elements are brought alive in Fens, Forests and Fields, an astonishing new book about a landscape in Essex that time forgot: the Land of the Fanns. Ken Worpole will talk about what he discovered on his journeys through ‘the Fanns’, exploring the ebb and flow between London and Essex that has created this liminal landscape. In such a complex border country there are still to be discovered secret gardens and enchanted forests to amaze and delight. Ken conjures up a hidden landscape which has much to offer those wanting to walk and cycle during lockdown - and into a different future. Tamara Stoll's beautiful photographs capture the area perfectly. From the people to the places, the hidden gems to the vast open landscapes.

For more information or to order a copy of Fens, Forests and Fields, email landofthefanns@thameschase.org.uk.

https://www.landofthefanns.org/100-stories/

https://kinetika.co.uk/portfolio/land-of-the-fanns