Our latest ‘I’ve got an idea’ Fund award is to Johana Hartwig, a Cardiff based artist exploring creative solutions to urban environmental issues. Her work has focused on water bodies within populated spaces and public access to natural resources. 

Johana is inspired by the structures of the floating gardens of south Bangladesh that rise and fall with the flood water. Utilising the point at which the 2 rivers Ely and Taff feed into Cardiff Bay, Johana’s idea is to try to create a mass hydroponic system of some kind, grown on the waste we discard. The work responds to human impact in natural environments and will use the Cardiff Bay Marina as a testbed for the creation of organic, buoyant structures that could be used for current and future urban farming. If successful, the food grown can be given to the local food-bank and cafe and Cardiff Met University have agreed to test the produce to check if it would be suitable for human consumption.

Johana has gained permission from Cardiff Bay Harbour Authority to collect buoyant plastic waste and permission from the Marina to fabricate structures using this waste to trial floating large growing platforms on.

Johana’s is a fascinating and challenging project which may or may not work technically but will certainly visibly stimulate thinking and conversation about rivers and waste and new ways of growing food in the centre of a city.