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 a Creative Gardener for Cultivate Create, a creative growing project with ACAVA for families in North Kensington, supporting Lead Artist Romany Taylor in delivering art and gardening activities, developing an edible garden and transforming the space into a biodiverse haven.
They are also training to be a Landscape Architect at 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, 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
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, upcoming workshops at National Trust’s Morden Hall as part of Grow Urban Festival.
Creative Gardener, Cultivate Create, Community Gardening Project at ACAVA, funded by NHS North Kensington Recovery Programme, July 2022-ongoing
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-ongoing 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
