Now that the U.K is beginning to reopen, photography students from the Wigan and Leigh College have explored what coming outside again and immersing yourself in the green landscape means to people from across the borough. The students have been conducting interviews with people in Mesnes park about their connections to the park and the way the green space is used and enjoyed.

Commissioned by Wigan Council and Open Eye Gallery for Wigan Arts Festival 2021, the final photographs will be installed in a series of public photography exhibitions in Mesnes Park in the centre of Wigan.

A parallel exhibtion called Return to Nature by photographers and residents from across the Wigan borough are being exhibted at Pennington Flash Country Park and Haigh Hall Woodland Country Park for the duration of the Wigan Arts Festival.