Made in Bonnington, 2025, a project by artist Sylvia Rimat and Charli Clark. Photo courtesy Steve England
Synopsis
Made in Bonnington is a collaborative, community-engaged project by artists Charli Clark and Sylvia Rimat, based at the new Bonnington Walk community building and garden in Lockleaze.
Rooted in creativity, care, and connection, the project explores the relationships between people, place, and the more-than-human world; from the wild to the cultivated. As new residents settle into Bonnington Walk, Charli and Sylvia will work alongside the community to explore themes including:
Care and belonging
Nature and nourishment
Community and co-creation
Food – including foraging, growing, cooking, and sharing
Together with local residents, the artists will collect stories, swap recipes, and celebrate what it means to live and grow together in Lockleaze.
Description
The name ‘Bonnington’ holds both artistic and agricultural significance. It reflects Lockleaze’s tradition of naming streets after artists, this one honouring Richard Parkes Bonington, a 19th-century English Romantic landscape painter known for his atmospheric depictions of nature. The name also traces back to the Old English for “farm village,” grounding it in the area’s rural past. Once home to Lockleaze Farm, the site of Bonnington Walk carries forward that legacy through community projects like the Lockleaze Community Orchard, Really Wild Lockleaze, and the Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust. Made in Bonnington builds on this rich legacy of cultivation, care, and community.
Event Programme
Fermentation and Pickling
A workshop for making fermentations, including pickles, tinctures, and hawberry ketchup with forager and fermenter Martin Bailey of GoForaging.
Bat Walks
Armed with bat detectors, we discovered a variety of species and learnt about their habitats with local legend Steve England.
BioBlitz
With ecologist Erin Swithinbank from Avon Wildlife Trust, we recorded local species using the #iNaturalist app and field guides. Together we identified wildflowers including Great Willowherb, Wild Teasel and Bird’s Foot Trefoil, as well as insect highlights like the Rusty Tussock Moth caterpillar, Common Field Grasshoppers, Carder bees and Knot Grass Moth caterpillars.
Weekly Drop-In Events
Every week, the ‘Made in Bonnington’ artists Charli Clark and Sylvia Rimat welcome local residents to the community space at Bonnington Walk to take part in creative workshops inspired by the local landscape, wildlife, and art.
Further Reading
Charli is an artist working across disciplines, drawing on her skills and knowledge as gardener and beekeeper to develop work in relation to, for and with the natural world. Through planting installations and community engagement she seeks to form relationships and reconnect with the more-than-human species. She works with a wide range of media including painting, film, performance, installation, socially engaged and living ‘biological’ art.
Born and based in Bristol, Clark trained as a gardener in 2017 after creating artwork for Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden, Helsinki and becoming fascinated by the world of plants. In 2015, Clark completed her Masters in Environmental Art from Aalto University of Art, Design and Architecture, specialising in Biological Art. Clark has produced work for a number of venues across the UK and internationally, including Arnolifini, Bowes Museum, Harp Art Lab (Sweden), and MUU Gallery (Finland), and has been involved in exhibitions, open studios, workshops and residences across Europe. She is a member of the Bioart Society and has been an Associate Artist with Melliferopolis – Bees in Urban Environments, MUU Gallery and Knowle West Media Centre.
Sylvia Rimat is a German and British artist/performance maker, based in Bristol. Her work manifests in various formats, spanning audio installation and audio sculpture in public space, studio shows, one-on-one performance, site-specific work and a geo-located audio-walk as part of a tailor-made App.
Characterised by playful audience interaction and strong visual aesthetics, her work deals with processes of the human mind, drawing on scientific research, personal experiences and our imagination, to ask big questions. Recent work explores our connectivity with the natural world, as well as notions of care beyond the human species and climate action. The development of her work follows a collaborative approach, connecting with academics/ researchers and people from diverse communities.
Since 2008, Rimat has presented her work throughout Britain and internationally, at more than 60 venues and festivals, including British Council Showcase Edinburgh, Barbican London in SPILL Festival, Cambridge Junction and at venues in Europe (Spain, Germany, Poland and Denmark) & Australia (Sydney Festival, Proximity Festival, Perth). Sylvia is a Pervasive Media Studio resident, a member of artist collective Residence and part of #CultureDeclares.
Ginkgo Projects is an independent public art and cultural producer, creating opportunities for artistsand designers to work closely with clients and communities to build and reveal places that have a sense of narrative, distinctiveness and identity.
