Hayley Suviste’s hcmf// 2020 commission Edgeland was premiered last year as part of our online festival programme. The piece comes at a pivotal moment in the struggle for Ryebank Fields, a greenspace on the cusp of Manchester, and also carries wider relevance for a world at risk of permanent environmental destruction.
Ryebank Fields is a precious spot of city nature for many in Suviste’s local community. Now threatened with the possibility of being developed over, Edgeland not only gives voice to the space, but also the local visitors and activists who interact with it. As with many of Suviste’s pieces, it marries the urban to the rural, emphasising our unavoidable impact on green spaces.
You can listen to Edgeland, and read Suviste’s thoughts on the project, below.
As Manchester’s streets and skyline are warped by the ever-accelerating process of urban renewal, the city’s edgelands and green spaces are at risk of being swallowed by waves of property development. Not only does this raise questions about the ecology of the city, as carbon sinks are flattened and wildlife is displaced, but it speaks to broader trends pushing urban residents away from shared space, community and local identity.
This project shines a light on these spaces and the activists, academics, and local people who have taken up the daunting fight against corporate interests in the city in the name of biodiversity, urban ecology and community wellbeing. As we are faced with crises of both environment and mental health, the role of public green spaces has become ever more crucial in the eyes of those who enjoy, nurture, and maintain them.
As the tide of urban growth edges closer to the open boundaries of our shared spaces, the trees, wildlife and insects continue their gentle movement, unaware that these spaces are likely reaching the end of their rich lineage. If nothing else, this project documents these final days.
Edgeland weaves together recorded conversations, composed music and field recordings from a handful of Manchester’s urban wildlife havens. Interviewees include community activists Julie Ryan and Tara Parry from Save Ryebank Fields, award-winning alternative tour guide Hayley Flynn (Skyliner) and Dr Jenna C. Ashton (artist, curator and lecturer at The University of Manchester).
Hayley Suviste is our Artist of the Month for February 2021. Read our full-length feature on her work here.