Launch: 22nd January 2026 / 6–8pm / RSVP here
Exhibition continues: 23 January – 29 March
We are ecxited to announce that this January our partners at Open Eye Gallery Liverpool are exhibiting LOOK Climate Lab, a biennial programme exploring how photography can be a relevant and powerful medium for talking about climate change.
At Open Eye, the gallery is being transformed into a lab, bringing together researchers, activists and artists to test their ideas, and encouraging our audiences to discuss systematic changes needed for dealing with the climate crisis. This year’s programme will focus on gardens and how people connect with green spaces. Max Gorbatskyi, Open Eye Gallery’s curator, has said:
“From memorials to places to hang out with friends, from horticultural perfection to an accidental hedge near your house or a tree that brings back memories, we examine the role plants play in our lives, and how our lives shape theirs.“
This exhibition will make up part of our OFFSHOOT project, which is a collaboration between us at the University of Salford Art Collection, RHS Garden Bridgewater and Open Eye Gallery. At LOOK Climate Lab, Socially engaged photographers Fiona Robinson, Anoosh Ariamehr and Liz Lock are displaying their research and progress gained while working at RHS Garden Bridgewater with different groups from the Salford community, including youth groups, wellbeing and community groups.
Meanwhile, artist Yan Wang Preston will share her findings from her memory gathering process, which was conducted in response to the oldest tree at RHS Bridgewater. This magnificent sweet chestnut tree, estimated to be 300 years old, stands on the historical grounds of RHS Bridgewater. Her research poses the question: if trees are memory keepers, what might this tree recollect from the past three centuries?
OFFSHOOT is an expansive project, and there will be plenty more exhibitions, talks and events surrounding it over the coming year. To find opportunities to engage with the project, such as Yan Wang Preston’s Memory Keepers, visit the OFFSHOOT website.
Other LOOK Climate Lab 2026 projects will include:
My Nature Connection. Photographer Stephanie Wynne has been collaborating with volunteers for Whitby Park Community Garden exploring the positive impact of nature connections, developed in partnership with Chester Zoo as part of their Networks for Nature programme.
Pansy Project. Paul Harfleet has been planting pansies at sites of homophobic and transphobic abuse since 2015. Through this quiet yet powerful act, the ongoing project gently confronts hate crime and brings visibility to LGBTQ+ experiences that often go unreported.
Roam, River, Roam
A practice-as-research project by artist and producer Liz Wewiora, which forms part of her wider current PhD in collaboration with the University of Salford and Open Eye Gallery. Liz has been working as a photographic artist in residence with different communities located at the points where various rivers meet. The residency explores individuals’ relationship to their local river and its surrounding public green spaces.
The events programme includes workshops, talks, open meetings and more – to be announced soon!
To find out more about the wider programme, accessibility, opening times visit Open Eye Gallery’s Website here.
Partners in this project include: British Academy SHAPE programme, Chester Zoo, High Peak Community Arts Project eARTh group, Homotopia, Many Hands Craft Collective, Planit, RHS Garden Bridgewater, Salford Youth Service, Stockroom, TreeStory Wigan, Veterans’ Oaks (in partnership with the Forestry Commission, Duchy of Cornwall, Cobseo, M&C Saatchi World Services, dot-art, Royal British Legion, England’s Community Forests) , University of Salford, University of Salford Art Collection, Victoria Park Butterfly House and Garden, Wigan Borough Council.
With support from: Arts Council England, Chester Zoo, Forestry Commission, Liverpool City Council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, National Lottery Heritage Fund, National Lottery through Arts Council England, Royal Horticultural Society, University of Salford, Wigan Borough Council.