Exhibition to showcase community's response to project

The University of Exeter will feature various artworks inspired by the Lower Otter Restoration Project in November.

The exhibition, titled The Lower Otter Restoration Project in Translation, will include illustrations, photos, textile prints, and music created by Budleigh Salterton artists.

The project, organised in partnership with the Environment Agency and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, aims to examine how Budleigh's creative processes can help communicate other climate adaptation projects.

The Lower Otter Restoration Project, initiated in 2014, aimed to bolster the area's resilience to climate change, leading to significant landscape changes around the Otter River estuary.

Dr Natália Pinazza, project lead and senior lecturer in Latin American and Lusophone studies, said: "This exhibition testifies to the impact of climate adaptation projects on the local community and biodiversity in the region.

Beaver mum and kit (Image: David White)

"It reveals how local artists registered the transformations engendered by the project and documented these changes through songs, textile art, illustrations, and photography."

Dr Pinazza collaborated with the Environment Agency and artists to identify art produced throughout the restoration work.

This includes wildlife photographs by David White, who captured images of returning bird species and animals such as beavers, illustrations by John Washington, who documented the landscape changes and the work involved, and textiles by Brenda Thomas, inspired by new viewpoints created by the improvements.

These artistic creations collectively depict the significant landscape changes brought about by the £27m restoration project, such as the conversion of 55 hectares of farmland into rare intertidal habitat.

This required the removal of embankments and the creation of 6km of creeks to connect the floodplain to the estuary.

Raised walkways and nature observation stations were installed, two hectares of woodland and grassland were planted, and the town’s cricket club relocated off the floodplain.

Dr Pinazza added: "Seeing your land flooded like that must have been very emotive and powerful for the residents of Budleigh.

"In real time and in living colour, local artists observed the land being restored to its natural state – both a turning back of the clock, but also a significant step forward for nature-based solutions.

"What’s fascinating is how they responded to that through art and craft, and it is that process that has the potential to resonate with other contemporary restoration projects."

The Lower Otter Restoration Project in Translation exhibition will be staged in The Forum on the university's Streatham campus, from November 18 to 22.

There will also be a launch event on November 19, at 4.30pm in the Digital Humanities Seminar Room 1.