Nature-inspired art is to be showcased at the Wild City exhibition at Coastguard Studio in Southsea

As part of the #BackTheFuture Climate Challenge with Crowdfunder and Portsmouth City Council, creative company Wild City has been running a series of free nature-based creative workshops across the city with local community groups.

They also gave the brief to local artists to showcase their tree-themed artwork.

The exhibition will consist of artwork and interactive elements inspired by the green spaces of Portsmouth.

Bethia Santi Bridges, co-founder of Wild City Portsmouth said: ‘Regular access to the natural world provides endless positive benefits across all ages including psychologically, educationally, emotionally, spiritually and physically which is especially important in such a densely populated island city. Studies show that being in nature improves our mental health and wellbeing by reducing symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, while boosting feelings of calm and happiness, among many other good things!

‘Draw Me A Tree is a project for the whole community and beyond. It's about using creative imagination, recognising the importance of trees, and showing how far we can spread our Wild City branches.

‘Through our workshops we were able to access pockets of the community that may lack regular exposure to nature to create a nature awareness domino effect. Each workshop was focused around getting outside, learning to reconnect, understand and prioritise our local patches of wild.

‘We created artwork inspired by these outdoor adventures and collected them to display as part of our collaborative exhibition.’

Tickets for the exhibition, which takes place on July 29 and 30, are available at wild-city.uk/book-online.