Selected
work.
A practice unfolding through landscape, material experimentation, research and the knowledge people hold together.
Motanafas &
Walking in Wadis
A long-running enquiry into plant knowledge, water and cultural memory in St Catherine, Sinai. Working with Motanafas Collective and local young people, the project brings artistic expression together with ethnobotany and ecological learning.
Motanafas formed part of the British Council’s COP27 Creative Commissions. Walking in Wadis, credited to Lora Aziz and Motanafas Collective, was exhibited in Thirst: In Search of Freshwater at Wellcome Collection, 26 June 2025–1 February 2026.
Collaborators and partners include Dayma, Rehab Eldalil and Firstsite. The related film, The rain that fills the well, is credited by Wellcome to Saeed Jumna, Ahmed Ramadan, Hagar Elhady, Lora Aziz and Marley Karazimba.
Blue Steps Along
the Saffron Trail
A cultural and ecological enquiry into the relationships between a historic trail, freshwater and the communities around it.
As project director and founder, I bring together artists, ecologists, researchers and local partners through walking, mapping, fieldwork and creative commissioning. The work explores access to nature, climate justice and the possibilities of a shared blue-green cultural corridor.
The feasibility work is complete. The next chapter is developing opportunities around Danbury and Audley End, alongside the wider cultural ecology work growing through Samara Cultures.
The feasibility project was supported by Bluespaces funding from Essex & Suffolk Water. Explore the project website for the report, maps, walking logs and team credits.
The Commons Way
Foraged inks, handmade papers, experimental calligraphy and walking encounters meet in an exploration of ecology, women, plants, land and rent.
Presented at Wat Tyler Country Park for Estuary 2021, the work drew on The People of 1381 research programme. Multimedia elements were created with videographer and sound artist Marley Karazimba.
I also contributed calligraphy and embellishments to The People of 1381 outdoor exhibition, designed by Samuel Restorick and produced by Metal with the University of Reading project.
Festival archive ↗The People of 1381: a later collaboration
The Poetry Society documents my illustration of a collaborative ballad made with school pupils and poets in 2022, printed using risography by Heidi Sharp.
Read the project story ↗
A shared landscape,
many homelands.
A project with women of different cultural backgrounds, exploring foraging, traditional remedies and the plants of a shared Essex landscape. Its publication and exhibition grew from workshops and exchanges of everyday knowledge.
Through stories of plants, the work considers belonging and cultural inheritance as living practices.
Read the council’s project account ↗A Wyrd Flora publication, 2022. Produced through Snapping the Stiletto: Campaigning for Equality, funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and supported by Essex County Council. Photography and illustrations: Lora Aziz; cover image and photography: Amalia Cerb.Work made together.
Messages in the Sand
An intergenerational project led by Lora Aziz and Marley Karazimba as Wyrd Flora, with Focal Point Gallery’s Contemporary Elders and families living in Southend.
Creative workshops explored people’s relationships with Southend and the sea, climate change and the future of coastal communities. Participants co-created an artwork which was presented as part of S for Southend 2024.
Developed alongside Storm Warning, with support from Art Fund through Reimagine grants. This is a collaborative project with participating families and Contemporary Elders.
Power of Place:
Earth, Gather, Form
Co-curated by Lora Aziz (Wyrd Flora), Firstsite’s Young Art Kommunity (YAK) and Motanafas Collective, this exhibition connected young people’s experiences of St Catherine in Sinai and the Colne Estuary landscape.
Botanical sketches, embroidery, photography, natural pigments and plant inks brought visual storytelling into dialogue with traditional land knowledge and climate justice.
Part of the British Council COP27 Creative Commission Motanafas: A space to connect. Supported by Arts Council England, Essex County Council and Colchester City Council.Art Makes
Children Powerful
Creativity, connection
and wellbeing.
Making space for young imaginations.
Working with Kingsdown School in Southend, I was a lead artist in Metal’s Art Makes Children Powerful programme. The project brought artists, young people and teachers together through a sustained period of creative workshops and shared learning.
This work sits within the collaborative practice developed through Wyrd Flora, connecting artistic making with participation, place and care.
Lora Aziz, Art Makes Children Powerful, commissioned in 2022 by Metal with support from Southend Education Trust, Southend LCEP and ROH Bridge.The Bunny Walks
A long community table and a commissioned wildflower walk in Chelmsford’s Chelmer Valley Local Nature Reserve brought foraged tea, plant knowledge and conversation into a project rethinking people’s relationship with a city green space.
Read the council’s project story ↗