A collaboration between young people, landscape, and art.

Whispers from the Wood was a 2026 summer project created with young women from Portland, led by artist Liz Lake, in partnership with The Drop In Portland.

Working in the reclaimed landscape of France Quarry, participants collected smashed glass to be re-cast, plants for dyes and printmaking inks, wood to be turned into charcoal, and old vines to plait into cordage. Focusing on how we can deepen and develop our relationship with nature through embodied making, the group also considered what it means to feel safe in this overgrown, ex-industrial environment, littered with broken bottles and graffitied with violent words.

The work created over the summer is now presented at France Quarry, offering visitors a journey into this collaboration between young people, landscape, and art.

Guidance: Dress for the weather, some walking over rough uneven ground. See website for all access info.

Funded by Dorset National Landscapes 

Supported by Future Portland, a Community Benefit Society, founded by b-side, Island Community Action, and The Portland Association, working to secure a positive future for Portland’s people and places. France Quarry is their first project: a beautiful site of woodland and grassland that the community is working to purchase and preserve.