Support Our Forest School at Mosspits began as a public funding proposition and unfolded as a situated, socially engaged artwork operating across ecological restoration, pedagogy, and collective care. Developed through the Liverpool City Region Environment Fund, the project reimagines the forest school not as an amenity but as a living, relational environment, where ecological processes, institutional structures, and lived experience become the material of the work.

The project centred on transforming the school grounds into a high-yield, low-maintenance forest garden structured through permaculture principles. Composting systems, wormeries, rainwater harvesting, and natural filtration ponds were introduced not only as functional infrastructure but as sensory and pedagogical forms that make visible cycles of waste, decay, and regeneration. Maintenance becomes part of the work’s ongoing form, positioning care and stewardship as creative acts.

Participation was central to the project’s development. Through workshops, play sessions, and collaborative planting, children contributed directly to the design and construction of the garden. Their involvement situates the work as a shared process rather than a fixed outcome, produced through collective labour, decision-making, and long-term use.

Willow tunnels, shelters, mud kitchens, and sensory pathways were constructed from living and biodegradable materials. These elements function as somatic interfaces, mediating the relationship between body and environment and enabling movement, regulation, and rest. The design pays particular attention to gentle sensory transitions, creating conditions that support emotional regulation, safety, and restoration. A quieter wildlife area offers space for retreat and observation, while hammocks, stepping stones, and embodied play structures provide opportunities for physical organisation and calm.

The garden operates simultaneously as artwork, classroom, and therapeutic landscape. Outdoor learning spaces, student-led activities, and community involvement redistribute ownership and authorship, allowing the space to be shaped continuously by those who inhabit it.

The work resists fixity. Its primary medium is time: growth, decay, seasonal change, and human interaction continually reshape its form. Rather than producing a static object, the project proposes cultivation itself as an artistic practice. It positions ecological care, sensory experience, and collective maintenance as forms of cultural production, creating a space where environmental and human wellbeing emerge together.