More-Than-Human Introductions in Gateshead Riverside Park

FOREST TONGUE

I am leaves, I like to dance with the wind

which is cold and wet now. But I believe

it will turn to warm and sweet one day,

I hope that day is not too far. Under my body,

I can feel the trunk.

I am a trunk, I live in dirt and mud, they involve

nutrition. I have a lot of leaves. I can feel them

dancing on me, just like a spider.

I am a spider, I live on the web. I use the web

to find my dinner. I am hungry now...

I can’t wait to make a bigger web.

I am a web, I often swing with the wind. I can

feel the spider on my body. I grow on the green

creature.

I am the green creature, a sentinel observing,

watching over, providing protection. I was

brought here in 1973 to stabilise and remediate

the bank. Over time, my community has grown,

now we are many. My fallen comrades lay beneath

me, logs as home and invitation.

I am the log. I provide a seat for travellers to rest

their weary legs. And a space for them to sit and

ponder whatever is in their head. Or you can tie

a rope around me and hang me from a tree, and

people can come and swing and play on me.

I stay in the same place, whether it is dark or light.

I also provide a home for temporary white.

I am temporary white. I live on logs and branches,

borrowing nutrition from them. I love moisture, which

is important for us to survive. I will look for other places

I feel comfortable more... Oh, I can see something

that might comfort me there... that’s rock.

I am a rock. I am strong. I am dirty with soil.

I am soil - particles, gases, liquids and bugs,

put together in different mixtures. I anchor the

trees and plants to earth. I hide bugs and animals

in tunnels and runways. Who is currently trying

to make its way through me?

The roots of a new tree.

I am a still alive tree. I fell down one month ago.

But I can still drink and eat, and some insects come

see me. Sometimes, humans notice my leaves.

I am leaves. I am falling down on the ground.

On the ground, there are some stones.

I am stone, lying on the soil. I am hard with my

other family members. Perhaps a burned trunk

is lying next to me.

I am a burned trunk. I used to be a part of

a tree, I was green and alive. On a cold fall day,

a strong wind broke me down. I became a firewood

for a lonely man. He lit a fire with me. Now he left me

and returned to the city.

I am the city. I house this forest on my steep slopes.

I house the people who visit this place. My yellow

stone is in stark contrast with the many colours

of the forest.

Authors

A collaborative place-based relay story from Gateshead Riverside Park, crafted in place on Monday 06 November 2023, between 11:00 and 13:00 GMT, by Jiayuan Chen, Lili Connor Ruiz, Lotte Dijkstra, Ellis Douglas, Barzin Geravandi, Kazusa Hayashi, Jiaxin He, Tianyu Huang, Asako Kumabe, Stef Leach, Qinyan Li, Qujian Li, Miao Liu, Jialiang Ping, Usue Ruiz Arana, Wenlu Sun, Zhenyu Tian and the more-than-human beings and vibrant matterings present.

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I AM LEAVES

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I AM ROCK

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I AM TEMPORARY WHITE

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I AM SOIL

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I AM STONE

• I AM LEAVES • I AM ROCK • I AM TEMPORARY WHITE • I AM SOIL • I AM STONE

With our bodies, personal stories, and collaborative place explorations, we investigate the more-than-human connections in and with Gateshead Riverside Park. We explore modes of interlingual, intercultural and intersectional belonging, sharing existing stories and ways of knowing as well as crafting new stories. The exercises are rooted in decolonial thinking, reflecting on the ways names and language hold power and meaning, as described by Robin Wall Kimmerer as The Grammar of Animacy (Braiding Sweetgrass, 2013, pp.48-59). Shifting perspective is vital in moving towards a more inclusive, intersectional, and interscalar landscape architectural practice.

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