Collaborative Mural at Edinburgh Climate Festival 2026
Edinburgh Climate Festival is an inclusive annual event focused on climate justice that aims to empower communities towards climate action. This year it took place on Saturday 27th of June at the beautiful Meadows! Centred around the theme “Intertwined,” the community got together for an afternoon full of live music, workshops, interactive stalls, and art installations focused on sustainability and local climate action
I got involved with the festival back in 2021 when I was invited to create the festival Poster! For this year, I was honoured to take part again, but this time with a collaborative printmaking installation exploring connection, community and nature.
From pressed flowers to lino stamps
The festival’s theme focused on mycelium: the underground fungal networks that connect plants and help ecosystems share resources, and I wanted to translate that idea into something simple and physical that visitors could contribute to. I often press some flowers and have collected them for a while now, using some to decorate journals and this time as inspiration to create unique hand-carved lino stamps:
I wanted the stamps to retain something of the character of the original plants rather than looking like perfectly uniform decorative motifs. The slight variations and imperfections in the carved blocks were part of the appeal.
I wanted to make something that people could experience rather than simply look at.
Rather than completing the artwork myself, I left the large board in the middle of the festival grounds with an invitation note for visitors to participate and decide how the composition would develop. One carved block can be used again and again, but every print can look slightly different depending on the amount of ink, pressure, position and the person making it.
Sometimes I stayed to chat and assist with how to use the stamps, but most of the time I stepped out and could see visitors choosing one of the botanical stamps, applying ink and making their own print on the board. Some carefully considered where to place their print, while others simply chose a stamp and experimented. Some people only added one mark; others decided to create a pattern and also connect their print with the surrounding shapes. It was amazing to see how the artwork evolved… the final artwork was never completely predictable; each person added something different, and the composition changed throughout the day. It was hard for me as an artist trying to intervene hehe.
Flowers connected with leaves, leaves crossed other prints, and forms began to overlap, one of the most interesting parts of the project was watching the blank board gradually disappear. At some point I decided to add some colour and areas that had initially looked empty slowly became part of the composition. The finished mural was much more complex than anything I could have designed on my own. Every print was a small individual action, but together those actions created something much larger.
This project made me think more about the difference between creating an artwork for people and creating one with people.
When I work on my own illustrations, I have control over the final composition. It is also a very isolated process. This experience showed me that I had to accept that I couldn’t control how the finished piece would look, and the connection with the community became the most valuable part of the process!
A huge thank you to the Edinburgh Climate Festival team for having me as part of the festival and for supporting the project, and to everyone who stopped by!!
Project: Link Collab
Artist: Karine Nieman
Photography:Peining Sheng
Event: Edinburgh Climate Festival 2026
Medium: Hand-carved lino stamps, relief printing and reclaimed board
Format: Participatory art installation
Location: Edinburgh
Role: Artist / Installation Creator
BRING THIS WORKSHOP TO YOUR COMMUNITY!
I offer hands-on collaborative lino printing workshops that use accessible materials and encourage people to explore creativity, place and connection.
Workshops can be adapted for community groups, festivals, schools, environmental projects and arts organisations.