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Cultural ecology and living in kinship with the more than human is grounded in ways of knowing and being of diverse Indigenous Peoples globally. People who are disabled, chronically ill, and/or neurodivergent have different ways of knowing and ways of being than those who are non-disabled and neurotypical. Yet disabled and neurodivergent perspectives are often missing from cultural ecology discourse and practice, and relationship with the more than human is obscured in disability activist spaces. Purple Ochre exists to change this.

Disabled and neurodivergent people can make a unique contribution to cultural ecology and associated practice and discourse. This contribution has the power to break barriers and forge new connections with the environments that we share our existences with. This is ever more critical at a time of polycrises, so often driven by a loss of relationship with land enacted by colonial and capitalist Western worldviews.

Everyone can create. An idea is a creative act. There is a long, varied history of artists working with the landscape and our kin; from unknown pre-historic artists using natural ochre pigments depicting ancient landscapes on the walls of caves, right through to contemporary land art. Equally, there is a rich history of creative arts practiced by disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent people, and extensive use of art in disability activism. Purple Ochre uses creative practices as a conduit to bring these discourses together, expose synergies, and explore relationships.