Art project with RHS Garden Bridgewater blooms with new funding

PHOTO: Therapeutic Gardener Ozichi Brewster (right) in the Wellbeing Garden 

The award will cover the costs for three photographers to work at RHS Bridgewater with local communities to develop creative activity relating to nature, wellbeing and climate change.

Supported by the University of Salford Art Collection team and the project partners they will work alongside internationally renowned photographic artist Yan Wang Preston, who was announced in November as RHS Garden Bridgewater’s first ever artist in residence thanks to a collaboration between the University and the RHS garden.

Two photographers benefiting from the Arts Council England fund are Anoosh Ariamehr, an Afghanistani refugee who recently received settled status and will use his expertise as a journalist to work with communities in the RHS Bridgewater’s Community Grow Garden, and health specialist Fiona Robinson who completed an MA in socially engaged photography at the University of Salford in 2022 and will focus her time with communities in the Wellbeing Garden. They will both work with a third photographer (yet to be appointed) who will work with young people from the city through Salford Youth Service.

They will complement the work of Yan Preston who is a multi-award-winning visual artist and photographer who is passionate about the natural world and humanity’s position within it. She was the recipient of the Royal Photographic Society’s inaugural Photographer of Environmental Responsibility award in 2023 and has exhibited around the world including in her native China.

Lindsay Taylor, Curator of the University of Salford Art Collection explains: “The news that we were successful applying for Arts Council funding is wonderful; it will enable us to deepen the work that Yan has begun at RHS Garden Bridgewater by employing socially engaged photography to develop ideas with and for our local communities. As a University we are committed to enriching lives and enabling healthier living, and I can’t imagine a better way of putting this into action by welcoming  people from Salford and across our region to explore the wonderful gardens at Bridgewater and exploring their activities through photography.”

Dan Atherton at RHS Garden Bridgewater added: “We already have strong community engagement activities at the garden, welcoming groups in to cultivate and grow flowers, fruit and vegetables and we can’t wait to see how Anoosh and Fiona use their skills with community groups to document and explore this activity. It’s great that they will be able to link in with a photographer of Yan’s standing, to share creative ideas and new ways of thinking about how to use photography in our spaces.”

Sarah Fisher from Open Eye said: “1.8 billion photographs are uploaded to social media every day and we now share our lives using photography. But we are often sharing very similar images so we are excited that this collaboration brings the expertise of photographers together with people as part of their gardening experience.”

Ten digital SLR cameras will be purchased as part of the project to use across the community groups to give everyone the chance to co-design and develop their own content.

Work in progress will be displayed at Open Eye Gallery early next year, followed by an outdoor presentation at RHS Garden Bridgewater in summer 2026. The whole programme will be celebrated with an exhibition at Salford Museum and Art Gallery and the University in autumn 2026.

The University of Salford Art Collection (UOSAC) was founded in 1968. The collection contains over 900 items including work by L S Lowry and Bridget Riley, and is the catalyst for a range of scholarships, collaborative commissions and cultural partnerships with organisations across the North West.

For updates on the work with Open Eye and RHS Bridgewater please visit: https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/bridgewater/artist-in-residence

Photo credit: Josh Kemp Smith - RHS Garden Bridgewater

Notes to Editors:

Yan Wang Preston

Yan is an internationally acclaimed photographer, who won First Prize in the Professional Landscape competition, Sony World Photography Awards in 2019. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery (2024). Her stunning and ambitious photographic projects highlight the relationship between humans and the natural world. Past works include Mother River which documented the entire 6,211km length of China’s Yangtze River, and With Love. From an Invader, a year-long project in which she photographed a plant on the South Pennine Moors every other day, a round trip of more than two hours. Based in West Yorkshire, Yan Wang Preston lectures in photography at the University of Huddersfield.

Anoosh Ariamehr

Anoosh received settled status in the UK in 2020 having spent time in refugee camps in Europe following his escape from Afghanistan. He began volunteering at Open Eye Gallery Liverpool in February 2023, where his personality and professional experience in Afghanistan as a journalist and editor combined with his passion for photography opened up a new career in photography. He is now studying for his MA in Socially Engaged Photography at the University of Salford, which is delivered in partnership with Open Eye Gallery.

Fiona Robinson

Alongside her photography, Fiona Robinson works in a local authority public health team, drawing on over 25 years' work with communities to improve our environment and support health and wellbeing. In 2022, Fiona completed an MA in Socially Engaged Photography at the University of Salford and has found that the two roles are mutually supportive. For her MA project, she was photographer in residence at community gardening charity, Let’s Grow in Preston.

About the University of Salford Art Collection

The University of Salford Art Collection (UOSAC) was founded in 1968. It has Museum Accreditation status and exists for the benefit of the public as well as university students and staff. The collection now contains over 900 works including work by L S Lowry and Bridget Riley, and is the catalyst for a range of scholarships, residencies, collaborative commissions and cultural partnerships with organisations from across the North West including Open Eye Gallery and Castlefield Gallery and studios such as Hot Bed Press and Paradise Works.

About the RHS

Since our formation in 1804, the RHS has grown into the UK’s leading gardening charity, touching the lives of millions of people. Perhaps the secret to our longevity is that we’ve never stood still. In the last decade alone we’ve taken on the largest hands-on project the RHS has ever tackled by opening the new RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford, Greater Manchester, and invested in the science that underpins all our work by building RHS Hilltop – The Home of Gardening Science.

We have committed to being net positive for nature and people by 2030. We are also committed to being truly inclusive and to reflect all the communities of the UK. Across 0ur five RHS gardens we welcome more than three million visitors each year to enjoy over 34,000 different cultivated plants. Events such as the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show, other national shows, our schools and community work, and partnerships such as Britain in Bloom, all spread the shared joy of gardening to wide-reaching audiences. Throughout it all we’ve held true to our charitable core – to encourage and improve the science, art, and practice of horticulture – to share the love of gardening and the positive benefits it brings.

For more information visit www.rhs.org.uk  

RHS Registered Charity No. 222879/SC038262

About Open Eye Gallery

Open Eye Gallery is an independent, not-for-profit photography gallery based in Liverpool. One of the UK’s leading photography spaces, it is the only gallery dedicated to photography and related media in the North West of England. A registered charity, Open Eye Gallery believes photography is for everyone and can be meaningful, informing our present and inspiring positive futures. Open Eye Gallery works with people to explore photography’s unique ability to connect, to tell stories, to inquire, to reflect on humanity’s past and present, and to celebrate its diversity and creativity.