Grief & The Hedgerow: A Herbalism Workshop with Hannah-May Batley

In this welcoming workshop, Hannah-May will introduce a selection of local plants traditionally associated with comfort, remembrance and healing, sharing stories of their place in folklore, community traditions and everyday life.

Together we’ll explore how these plants can help us reconnect with ourselves, one another and the natural world through a simple creative activity and the making of a folk herbal remedy to take home. Drawing on traditional knowledge and contemporary herbal practice, Hannah-May invites us to rediscover the wisdom held within the plants that grow around us.

No previous experience is needed, and all materials will be provided. Whether you’re curious about herbalism, interested in traditional knowledge or simply looking for a gentle space to reflect, you’ll be warmly welcomed.

This event is part of our autumn programme, The Grief Garden: An Invitation to Artists, funded by Leeds City Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority through the Seasons of Culture programme, supporting projects that encourage communities to connect with nature through creative practice. The programme explores themes of grief and loss through artist-led creative experiences in a supportive community setting. You’re welcome to participate in whatever way feels comfortable, and you’re free to step away at any time.

Hannah-May is a herbalist, transdisciplinary artist, educator and scholar whose work centres plants, folk arts and community as lived practices of the commons and pathways to reconnecting with land, culture and one another. Through her project, Hedge School, she shares traditional skills, plant knowledge and creative forms of learning that seek to recover, reconnect and restore relationships with kith and kin.
Over the past fifteen years, Hannah-May has worked alongside communities across the UK, collaborating with universities, grassroots organisations and people experiencing homelessness, displacement, violence and recovery. Alongside her community practice, she has developed creative partnerships with universities in England and Scotland, combining activism, education and artistic practice.
Drawing on herbalism, folklore and the everyday wisdom of plants, Hannah-May creates spaces where people can rediscover traditional knowledge, strengthen connections with the natural world and imagine more resilient ways of living together.