Mattie O’Callaghan is a multi-disciplinary curator-gardener and landscape architect working with various communities and focusing on creating spaces with local people in mind. While always connected to the land and nature, Mattie worked with Grow Wild, a national outreach initiative of Kew Gardens, where they ran projects in collaboration with other gardener artists. With Romany Taylor, a garden in North Kensington called Cultivate Create provided a much-needed biodiverse space, exploring the potential for growing among urban design, like plants sprouting from concrete cracks. There were workshops for local families, and the area quickly transformed into a colourful oasis loved by children and their parents.
While studying for an MA in Landscape Architecture, Mattie is also freelancing at Oval Architecture, working on restoring ecological habitats and landscapes. They also pursued further education through the Royal Horticultural Society’s Level 2, volunteering at Fulham Palace and Beth Chatto, which recently resulted in becoming the Horticultural Trainee at the Garden Museum. Mattie’s research looks at landscape design and practices through a queer lens, a more holistic attitude than the rigid traditional forms of horticulture that evolved over the centuries. In their Radicle article, Mattie argues for moving towards more collaborative, care-centred practices that recognise both plants’ agency and the value of human labourers (especially gardeners). The approach draws inspiration from queer ecology and mutual aid networks to reimagine how we design public spaces, with particular attention to seed-scattering as a metaphor for diversity and resistance.
Apart from the beauty of growing, Mattie’s inspiration comes from community growers working in all kinds of weather to grow food and make their local spaces more adaptable. Their interest lies in the knowledge and practice of co-creating spaces with local people which are both beautiful and ecologically rich. Merging the arts with horticulture and making them available to all demographics is admirable. The benefits of such activities and mutual human connection can’t always be measured. Still, there is much to gain, regardless of age, physical capabilities, or background. Nature embraces us all.
“I think it’s important to be rooted in the soil, to learn from working on the ground,” Mattie says. “Growing teaches you so much about patience, failure, working together, joy, and fulfillment.”