In this project, we explore land‑based and relational perspectives and practices to develop new understandings of how pressure on nature can be reduced. We do so through an interdisciplinary approach grounded in Indigenous and minority perspectives. The project aims to contribute to a shift in environmental discourse by fostering embodied connections to forests and land through the body, clothing, and footwear.
Clothes and shoes shape the ways we experience and move in the world, how we relate to others and even how we think and act – including about the natural world. These are Green Blood’s main starting points as it seeks to explore how to reduce the pressure that modern ways of living place on natural systems. A key part of this work is to learn with the land-based practices and culture of the Forest Finns, and work to bring forward indigenous perspectives on the climate and nature emergency.
Friluftsliv (outdoor life) has strong traditions in Norway and is usually seen as nature-friendly, yet paradoxically, outdoor gear used for friluftsliv both contains more toxic substances and more plastic than other clothes. Not only that but these same pieces, worn when we are seeking to connect with nature, are literal barriers against the elements, separating us from our surroundings. In Green Blood, we will explore how being outside while wearing different clothes can contribute to different nature experiences.
The Forest Finns are the least known of the Norwegian national minorities and a brutal policy of assimilation has led to loss of knowledge of many parts of the culture. The Forest Finn culture was based on a form of slash-and-burn agriculture, and a different way of living with nature. Less is known about the Forest Finn identity today. Green Blood will seek to contribute with more understanding of Forest Finn Culture and highlight alternative ways of understanding and being in nature today.
The project participants are from Norway, the United Kingdom and Canada, with expertise in clothing, design, nature, feet, shoes, dance, cultural history and pedagogy. It is our goal to explore what we wear and how we act when we, as humans, do not position ourselves above and outside nature but alongside and within it.
The project was conceived and is led by a team of three: Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Kate Fletcher og Lisbeth Løvbak Berg.
