00:00 A new display in Liverpool 1 tells the history of the city region through its trees, using
00:07 personal stories and photography.
00:09 I walk through Paradise Street all the time. You don't almost notice that there are seven
00:13 or eight great big trees down the middle of it and we've actually got sort of extensions
00:16 of the exhibition down there as well. So yeah, we are surrounded by trees all the time. We
00:20 don't always notice them or appreciate the value they bring to our lives. But as you
00:23 say, we also have an amazing amount of green spaces in the city. So hopefully this is just
00:27 an excuse for people to spend a bit more time in those and actually record those with a
00:31 purpose.
00:32 One of the photos on display is from Kate Elder Fuller. In 2019, she married a tree
00:37 in Rimrose Valley Country Park. Inspired by female activists in Mexico, she did so as
00:43 a way to protest plans to build a dual carriageway through the green space.
00:48 So far so good. We're sort of four or five years nearly down the line and there's still
00:53 no roads. Got to phase until the next sort of round of roads investment. So we've got
00:58 another year to sort of plan and prepare for that.
01:01 Do you know, when we walk around and seeing the picture on the wall, it was sort of quite
01:04 humbling really. It's a nice thing to be part of. It's nice to sort of see that the story
01:09 is still getting sort of picked up and like the true story is getting picked up, you know,
01:14 that and that. I knew exactly what I was doing, you know, kind of, you know, I was hoping
01:18 for to raise the awareness that we did and, you know, we've done that. So to be part of
01:24 this as well today, it's quite an honour. It was really nice to see.
01:28 Tree Story displays photographs of trees which range from a few years old to over 1,000 from
01:34 around the region taken by residents with text explaining their significance in terms
01:40 of local history, mental health and wellbeing, as well as their daily lives.
01:45 If you come into Liverpool One and indeed the wider city, there's more nature, there's
01:49 more trees than anybody would expect. But the thing with trees is that they are steeped
01:54 in history and everybody has got their own favourite tree or a story. And that's what's
01:58 really coming through in this exhibition. So far, there's around 120 photographers that
02:03 have taken a picture of their tree. They've submitted the story and why it's important
02:08 to them. But what we've done around Liverpool One is to highlight those stories and it really
02:12 gets people thinking.
02:14 Back in late 2020, Open Eye Gallery and Dot Art started inviting the public to share a
02:19 story about a tree that was important to them. Eight of these were selected and photographer
02:25 Andy Yates was commissioned to produce images of these important trees.
02:29 The importance of sustainability and nature around us has never been more important. So
02:34 to have this exhibition in the centre of a city is really quite special. So we're really
02:40 proud to host it.
02:41 After receiving national lottery funding, the projects expanded and they're continuing
02:45 to collect and share tree stories.
02:48 It's open to anybody. It's really, really simple. There's QR codes to scan or you can
02:52 visit treestory.me and very simply take a photo on your phone, upload it and type out
02:58 your story. You can even record your story if you'd rather speak it rather than type
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