About

Mattie is an ecological designer, curator, and writer exploring how we can live better together on our fragile planet. Working at the intersection of design, art and ecology, they are centred around questions of climate justice, materialities and queer ecologies. At the heart of this, is how can we co-design spaces with communities reusing on site materials and engaging with biodiverse and climate-resilient planting.

They are currently the Horticultural Trainee at the Garden Museum and working as a Landscape Architect.

They have just received their MLA in Landscape Architecture with Distinction from the University of Greenwich. They have a MA in Curating at the Royal College of Art with Distinction and have a BA in Geography from the University of Cambridge.

Selected CV

Education

MLA Landscape Architecture, University of Greenwich, Awarded Distinction, 2022-2024

MA Curating Contemporary Art with Distinction, Royal College of Art, Fully Funded by the Snowdon Scholarship, 2020-2022

BA Geography, University of Cambridge, 2.1, 2017-2020

RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Plant Growth and Development, Awarded Distinction

Current Projects

Horticultural Trainee, Garden Museum

Freelance Landscape Architect, Oval Partnerships

Awarded Kew Gardens Young Environmental Leader Award, April 2023, Interview found here

Resident, Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage, 2024-5, Creative Folkestone

Tend Collective, creative gardening and art workshops in collaboration with Romany Taylor, workshops at National Trust’s Morden Hall as part of Grow Urban Festival.

Chelsea Physic Garden Youth Panellist

Exhibitions and Programming

Curator and co-facilitator, From The Soil Up, Wild Clay Workshops with Jessy Harper-Solomon, as part of LOOP and The Festival of Community by Peckham Platform, F.A.T. Studios and Staffordshire Street Studios, and ACE, August 2023

Co-Curator: Immersions: Into the River Cam, Robinson College, Cambridge June 22-26 2022

Curator: Mushroom For All, Funded by Kew Gardens Grow Wild Fund, Hoxton Community Garden, August-September 2022

Co-Curator: Between the Deep Blue, Gasworks London, May 18-22 2022

Curator: Becoming Dust & Stars, Liquid Gold Studios, Southhampton Row, London, 8-12 June 2022

Co-Curator: Make Interspecies Relations, Nextdoor CODEY22 Online Residency, July-September 2022

Co-Curator: Summerhouse, RuptureXIBIT, Hampton Wick, London, July 1-15 2022

Curator: Weaving Springtime, Hoxton Community Garden, 4-7 April 2022

Curator: Intertwine our branches, Digital Exhibition on Climate Intersectionality, Louder Than The Storm, September 2020

Curatorial experience: Sea Garden, RAMM, Exeter with Laura Goodband, Summer 2019

Artistic Projects

Performances: Slowy and surely with an eternal wing, The Pen Theatre, curated by Lee Rae Walsh, 30th April, 2023; The Store, Staffordshire Street Studios, curated by the Lazy Suzans, 13th May 2023

BBC New Creative: Embracing Wild Waters Aired on BBC Radio 6 Music, 2019-2020, Funded by Arts Council England and BBC Arts

Workshops

Facilitator: Chelsea Physic Garden Glasshouse Celebration Day, Reimagining our city as an apothecary, September 2023

Creative Gardener: Cultivate Create, ACAVA, July 2022- April 2024 including collaborations with Chelsea Physic Garden, The Nourish Hub and Fulham Palace

Co-Facilitator: Mushroom For All, Hoxton Community Garden, August-September 2022

Co-Facilitator: Flourish Echo, ACAVA, August 2022

Co-Facilitator: Exploring ecologies through collaging, Summerhouse, RuptureXIBIT, Hampton Wick, July 9 2022

Facilitator: Falling, Catching, Breathing Circle, Becoming Dust & Stars, Liquid Gold Studios, Southhampton Row, 12 June 2022

Co-curator & Assistant: Singing the Songlines with Sue Parlby, Robinson College, Cambridge University, 24 & 26 June 2022

Co-facilitator: Weaving Springtime, Hoxton Community Garden 4-7 April 2022

Residencies

Resident, Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage, Awarded by Creative Folkestone, 2024/5

Curatorial Residency, Make Interspecies Relations, Nextdoor ARI CODEY22 Online Residency, July-September 2022

Artist in Residence, Kaleider, Exeter, 2019-2020

Talks

Panellist, How Public is Public?, University of Greenwich Roundtable, 26 January 2024

Host, In Conversation with Daze Aghaji for Chelsea Physic Garden Youth Panel, 27 October 2023

Panellist, Collective Landscape Symposium, Roundtable, University of Greenwich, 19 May 2023

Curators Talk, Immersions Into The River Cam, Robinson College, 25 June 2022

Co-host in conversation with Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Ambrose Rhapsody Murray, Gasworks, 18 May 2022

Panellist with Russell Tovey & Robert Diament- Genome Lates, Wellcome Collection, May 27 2021

Host, Refugee and Climate Panel, Louder Than The Storm, 30 July 2020

Prizes and Awards

Kew Young Environmental Leader Award, 2023

Snowdon Scholarship, Royal College of Art, 2020-22

David Richards Travel Grant, University of Cambridge, 2019

Devon Cambridge Society Travel Grant, 2019

Margaret Anderson Prize, University of Cambridge, 2018

Sir Arthur Arnold Scholarship, University of Cambridge, 2018

Contact:

mattieocallaghan@gmail.com