The final talk in The Gardens Trust’s online six part course in partnership with FOLAR showcasing women pioneers takes place February 18, individual tickets £8 (members £6). Register through Eventbrite HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.
Building on FOLAR’s popular series of Women in Landscape, this new collection of talks brings together insights into the motivations and work of three leading contemporary landscape designers and their teams, alongside stories celebrating the lives and achievements of earlier pioneers.
Each of these women has pushed boundaries to improve the lives of others. Some have studied and worked in the UK before adapting their knowledge and ideas to suit the unique contexts of their home countries – an exciting process of creative cross-pollination.
Every generation needs its pioneers, those who make lasting, and at times radical, changes, and who also inspire others to think boldly and act with confidence. Throughout the history of landscape design, there have always been people whose ideas and work transform the way we understand and shape our environments.
Talk 6. 18th February: Learning from Sheffield, Growing in Latin America: A Woman’s Journey in Landscape Architecture with Martha Fajardo
Martha will share a reflective talk about how her time at the University of Sheffield shaped not only her professional life, but also her vision of cities and landscapes as spaces for people and nature. For more than 35 years, her office has carried forward the lessons learned there, transforming them into projects in Colombia and across Latin America. She will also bring a more personal reflection on the role of women in landscape architecture — a perspective that, she believes, brings an essential sensitivity to our field. From a woman’s gaze, landscape design becomes a way of detecting structural inequalities and deficiencies in our public (and private) spaces, and of laying the foundations for integral transformation. It places nature and people at the very centre. It nurtures everyday life. It reimagines mobility with attention to the rhythms and needs of children, women, the elderly, and the disabled. And it invites co-creation as a cornerstone of urban regeneration.
Martha Fajardo is a Colombian architect and landscape architect with a master’s degree and an honorary doctor of letters (DLitt) from the University of Sheffield UK. CEO of Grupo Verde, a firm dedicated to the professional practice of landscape architecture, urbanism, and urban design. She cofounded and was the first President of the Colombian Society of Landscape Architects (SAP). Former President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA). She cofounded and chaired the Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI). Martha is a Board of Directors member of The Nature of Cities (TNOC).
