ACE Bogs exhibition - Juliet Klottrup

In the summer of 2023, I began documenting the restoration of Denton Moor. My focus was to highlight the role of community participation in monitoring upland peatlands and understand the environmental impact of restoration.

Art and science must work together to communicate environmental change in an accessible way. As an artist, I strive to capture not just the transformation of the landscape but also the human connection to it—through the perspectives of those who know the peatlands well and those encountering them for the first time.

My approach involves environmental photography and collaboration with local communities, conservationists, ecologists and artists to make the restoration process engaging and meaningful.

On one of my early days onsite, I shadowed members of the Wharfedale Naturalists Society. They conducted “ground truthing”, identifying plant species through direct observation. “Sedges have edges, rushes are round”; they told me, with their knees deep in the moss as they recorded findings. I worked in parallel, learning alongside them as I photographed key species to document their significance.

Later in the project - to mark World Bog Day - YPP hosted groups exploring the landscape through poetry, drawing, and citizen science. I met, observed, listened to and photographed people from different backgrounds, exploring and uncovering different and new meanings for this site.

I want my work to demonstrate, visually, that through participation in long-term citizen science projects, people are forging deeper connections with peatlands, fostering awareness and involvement in their restoration.