Tell us about you!

I’m an artist and I live in Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets. As part of my expanded practice I run a gallery called French Riviera that I co-founded in 2011 with Samuel Levack. Whilst my studio and home are currently based in East London, I have cultivated a somewhat nomadic lifestyle and like to be out there exploring the world as much as possible, working in the outdoors and spending time with myself and with friends who live outside of the city, foraging and cooking on coastal adventures.

How do you lean out, stay active, get out and explore nature?

By nature, I am an energetic person and I like to be on the move, I have a spiritual practice in yoga and astrology and I follow these teachings in my daily life to stretch my mind and body. As much as I enjoy city life, I also love to travel to the coast, I love to cycle beside the sea. Whilst there I spend time exploring the flora and filming in the landscape, swimming and foraging in nature and cooking with friends.

What are your tools for leaning out?

I love filming in nature, getting lost in the minute details of plants and colours in the landscape, I find it emotionally resourcing. Foraging and cooking outdoors with friends also gives me so much nourishment, just being outdoors, working or exploring, for an entire day or days, getting so much light, makes me feel incredibly strong and at one with the world. 

Tell us about your gear – what do you tend to bring/wear?

I have a pair of yellow deerskin gloves that I picked up in Colorado that come in handy for outdoors work and nettle picking. A solid pair of Blundstone boots never fail. I’ve recently bought a beautiful pair of Niwaki scissors, I'm also eyeing up their mini shears!

Do you have a bug-out bag and if so, what’s in it?

I actually don’t, I need to cultivate this as I just throw things in a sack! But if I did, it would have a good compartment for my camera, sketchbook with pencils and a place to store scissors to carefully cut any foraged plants, pockets for extra bags for foraging and to hold the colour filters I use for filming behind. These are my essential things. 

What is one of your most memorable adventures or favorite places to lean out?

Honestly anywhere by the sea does it for me, specifically walking the wild cliffs of North Cornwall and swimming on the vast beaches of South Devon, which is where I grew up, however I have also spent a lot of time in South Colorado at Zapata Ranch, a horse and cattle ranch and nature preserve, which is managed by a good friend of mine, the landscape there is off the chart! The biggest of skies full of brilliant colours with sunrises and sunsets, gigantic stars overhead and epic moonscapes, the horses and wild bison are running free in the fields, full of ancient grasses, cacti and wild flowers, all the while the Sangre de Cristo subrange of the Rocky Mountains runs alongside protecting the valley. I hope to visit again soon. I also had the absolute honour of traveling to rural Senegal to explore wild foods earlier this year, that was a trip of a lifetime. 

What do you do to stay safe so you can really relax in nature?

I would tell someone if I’m heading out alone, but I also have a strong sense of security in nature, I don’t mess with it and I know my limits, especially when it comes to swimming in the sea. 

Who inspires you in the outdoors?

It would have to be the friend I mention above, Kate Matheson, who’s the Ranch Manager at Zapata. Her fearless sense of adventure, dedication to making Zapata the wonderful place it is and her deep connection with the animals she works with and the landscape which she and they inhabit is awe inspiring.