Launch: Thursday 4 September / 4.30pm–6.30pm / Victoria Park Butterfly House Emergence is the outcome of a socially engaged project between volunteers at Victoria Park Butterfly House and visual artist Anna Wijnhoven.
Through a series of photographs and collaborative work, Emergence celebrates the often unseen efforts of those who sustain this unique urban sanctuary. The project highlights the value of volunteering, the power of community, and the role small green spaces play in supporting urban sustainability.
Entirely volunteer-run, the butterfly house and gardens are a community-led space where people come together to care for both nature and one another.
Anna Wijnhoven, artist in residence, said: “Working alongside the volunteers at the butterfly house and gardens was more than just a creative celebration of space, I have been witness to the quiet power of kindness in action.
Throughout the project, I feel I have become part of something special. The kind of something that lifts you up and turns moments of care into something a whole community can feel. Because of this, the space hums with a quiet magic. A kind of place where from the moment you step through the front door, it feels like poetry in motion”.
Lady Fern, project participant, said: “In a world where life and news can be unsettling, often even chaotic, leaving us confused and worried, I found a secret garden within a park. The glass building that day glistened. I entered as it seemed to call me in. A place of real peace, much beauty, true calmness and many glimpses of magic that give hope of boundless possibilities and it was that something special that drew me in.
I love nothing more than nature and its energy. I felt like it was right there from the people who welcomed me into the many plants and the wonder of new life beginning to burst forth. Butterflies opened up their wings to set flight, a sign of new beginnings, a reason for hope and rest.
This journey we wish to share with you, I hope. Our pictures capture such magic.”
Emergence is part of Photo Here, a programme of socially engaged photographic residencies and exhibitions commissioned by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority as part of this year’s Cultural Events Programme. Developed by Open Eye Gallery in collaboration with each of six local authorities: Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.