FUNERAL FOR NATURE - BATH

April 2024

In April 2024 Bath witnessed the incredible Funeral for Nature procession passing through its centre. On a crowded and busy shopping Saturday, with the sun shining brightly, a silent procession of Red Rebels, a funeral bier, solum drummers and hundreds of mourners dressed in black passed through the streets. Locals and tourists alike fell silent. With the usual trappings of ‘protests’ such as flags and banners set aside, there was a solemnity to the occasion which profoundly moved many who watched. The media coverage was excellent but as people from around the world held up their mobile phone cameras we knew that the procession was radiating out far beyond Bath itself.

Chris Packham gave a speech to the packed square in front of the Abbey. You could have heard a pin drop. He described the losses of animal and plant life that this country has suffered from so badly, and brought this 'biodiversity loss' to a very personal and emotional level. Encouraging us all not to give up hope, he suggested both personal and political actions and told us that we have the know how to implement regeneration and that nature will recover if given a chance.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to make the central figure of Mother Earth that was carried by ten pallbearers through the streets on a bier of poplar and willow. The figure itself was a mix of life casting and sculpturing - the central challenge being to make it light enough to be carried for two hours. It was then ‘planted’ by a team of local gardeners led by Huw Morgan of Dan Pearson Studios. They had sourced moss and spring plants from one of their woodlands - everything was returned to the woodland after the procession - and their sensitive planting brought so much beauty to the sculpture that what could have been macabre became hopeful even in the representation of death. Many many other people helped in the construction of the figure and the bier. Just like the whole event, the creation of the bier and its figure became an organisational and creative collaboration.

I was privileged to be part of it.

“The peacefulness of this sculpture with its figure and nature all around it held a peacefulness at the centre of something that could have brought feelings of anger, rage, fear, finger-pointing, panic and anxiety. This focal point helped to hold a sense of wise calm in amongst all that. Thank you for making it so.” - Niki Jewett

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