A poet, writer, performer and storyteller whose wild work, forged in the fantastical reaches of deep imagination, brings to life new stories for our strange times.
Jennifer Leach is a poet, writer, performer, storyteller. Her work is wild, forged in the fantastical reaches of deep imagination; she works with myth and archetype -- in an unscholarly, instinctual way -- to bring to life new stories for our strange times.
She is passionate about love and equality, justice and acceptance; she is both an activist and a dreamer. She is Director of Outrider Anthems, the company she established in 2011; it seeks to offer a sanctuary of (challenging) creativity in the inevitable turbulence of climate breakdown. It is a home for all Outriders - those who travel the lonely and perilous path to the boundaries of knowing and experience; the Outriders return with news of distant horizons, to collectively create new anthems for new ways of living.
Each day, Jennifer feels the full honour and magic of being alive, spiritually and creatively charged, in these times of painful change.
Quarantine Connection
Jennifer was one of our members featuring their work as part of the ClimateCultures Quarantine Connection series. We shared her piece, We are Stardust, on Day 31 of the 40-day series to mark the first UK lockdown of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Creative Conversations
Jennifer took part in a series of lively and engaging conversations that climate change dramatist Julia Marques recorded with fellow ClimateCultures members. These covered a wide range of topics that inform the work that ClimateCultures celebrates, and Julia introduces them and brings them together in Conversations with Work That Connects. In her video, among many other things, Jennifer shares her environmental passion as a creator of works such as The Festival of the Dark, reconnecting with nature's cycles of life and death, and learning how the process is as important as the product. She shares ideas behind Duende, her new collaborative project with Andrea Carr, and the importance of finding what feeds you rather than what drains you.
Jennifer then took part in a follow-up conversation with Julia and other interviewees. You can find the recordings in Talking to the Crisis, where ClimateCultures editor Mark Goldthorpe reflects on the themes they discussed.
Creative Showcase Jennifer has contributed a piece to our Creative Showcase portfolio, an evolving collection of new and recent works from our members. Standing Tall, 2022, her photographic and video work witnesses creative community resistance to the corporate felling of 112 trees and the sacrifice of a city’s green lung for more concrete.
Jennifer's ClimateCultures Posts:
Dancing with Darkness
Earth Living — Now, Facing the Storm
The Gift of the Goddess Tree
What the Bee Sees
A Personal History of the Anthropocene – Three Objects #3
Festival of the Dark – Dark February