Artists Carrie Phoenix and Kasia Posen form The Third Person; a collaborative venture that explores identity and sense of place.

The Third Person creates something unique that neither artist can produce alone, and is often in collaboration with a third entity, such as a geographical location, community, creative practitioner or scientist.

A few years back, and as the pre-cursor to Carrie setting up Natural Habitat, The Third Person partnered with inclusive art charity, Suffolk Artlink and the First Light Festival to deliver a 2.5yr project in Lowestoft, called Kirkley Creates.

Through a series of regular workshops at a Pantry Project (food bank), alongside collaborative community installations, The Third Person explored Kirkley’s identity through its flora and fauna, community perspectives, and local food systems.

This process culminated in the creation of a new no-dig community garden at the food bank, designed to help shorten vegetable miles, support soil health, and improve the wellbeing of those using the space. Edible table and bench planters were also installed across the town, providing free access to edible plants and creating welcoming places for people to connect, rest, and engage with the urban landscape.

Supporting Soil and Place played key roles in shaping this work. The Third Person mapped Kirkley by gathering shape and form from people’s favourite views of the town, while also mapping soil intersections across the area. Soil samples were collected from across the community, helping explore ways to build positive connections with the soil and the places it came from, celebrating its diversity, significance, and role in local ecosystems.

Local school pupils took part in activities exploring soil stories, alongside a wider programme of community workshops. These included creating natural pigments from both natural and man-made materials, collectively developing a “colourscape” of Kirkley that informed the design of the planters and the community garden.

Collaborative workshops offered community members opportunities to connect with each other and learn from a broad range of practitioners, including CSA market gardeners, soil and marine scientists, while also building strong and lasting relationships. For some participants, the impact was deeply personal: one long-term attendee gained the confidence to move beyond life-limiting anxiety and go on to begin their own Fine Art degree.

During First Light Festival 2021 and 2022, The Third Person collaborated with Casson and Friends dance company and Professor Brian Reid, a Soil Scientist from UEA, to share the work with broader audiences and disseminate findings in new and accessible ways. The Kirkley Creates community, shared their favourite aspects of foraging, garden and food led workshops with Casson and Friends, to create a collaborative dance piece performed on an installation built by The Third Person for the festival - the planter sculptures were then installed across the town, and the fabric stage utilised by women only sewing circles to make bags-for-life for the food bank.

In addition two foraging guides were created to showcase Kirkley's green spaces, architectural assets and sensory opportunities. One guide is an accessible guide for those who are visually impaired or struggle with longer distances.

Forage guides can be found on Suffolk Artlink's website here: https://www.suffolkartlink.org.uk/sessions/kirkley-map/

and here for the Sensory Guide: https://www.suffolkartlink.org.uk/sessions/explore-kirkley-sensory-forage-walk/

Further work can be found on instagram @_the_third_person