Holly Doron
they/them
Co-creator
Holly joined the CoLab Dudley team in 2020, when we were exploring how a better understanding of place could help collective learning and inform the co-creation of interventions on the High Street. Holly evolved this into Place Detectorism, an embodied sensing experience with more-than-human lenses to connect with the High Street.
Holly then initiated Stories of Place, a regular gathering of curious people to collectively understand place, imagine futures in which all life can flourish, and experiment with ways to bring us closer to those futures. Holly also instigated and leads on the development of Dudley Time Portal, a collective archive of place-based knowledge, imaginings and experiments.
Between autumn 2022 and autumn 2026 Holly has been funded through through Midlands4Cities to undertake a collaborative PhD with Birmingham City University and CoLab Dudley exploring research praxis as infrastructure for regenerative cultures.
Role cards currently held by Holly
- Network Guardian
- Collective Imagination Steward
- Regenerative Futures Storyteller
Holly's CoLab Dudley role is 1 day per week.
Posts about Holly's research on Medium
Holly Doron
hollydoron@gmail.com
In relationship with place: Turner's Hill
This land to the east of the Netherton Tunnel is a place that Holly has been exploring. Holly says...
Laura and I invite other curious folk on seasonal adventures across stretches of land that go by many names (some well-known and some we’ve made up based on our noticings): Blue Rock Quarry, Buddleia Belts, Bury Hill Plateau, Dragon Eye Cliff, Hawthorn Forest, Primrose Garden Portway Hill, Rowley Basin, Rowley Hills, Rowley Turkey Tail Path, Troglodyte troglodyte dead hedge, Turners Hill, Wall of Onions, Yellow Rattle Rebellion.
On our walks we share nature-rooted knowledge and curiosities with frequent exclamations of: “Wow! Look at that!”
We spot Small Copper Butterfly, Lichen, Red Tiger Moth Caterpillar, Wood Ear Fungus and Buzzard. We feel the warmth of the sun radiating from onion-weathered basalt, travelling back in time 300 million years ago when it was cooling lava.
We hear Song Thrush, Robin, Blackbird, Long Tailed Tits, Crows, Dunnocks and Great Tits. We see for miles around and feel Dudley hiding behind the hill.
We find signs of care in trimmed back brambles and Hawthorn formed into dead hedge and dry heap habitats, and stumps painted red to warn our feet. We listen to stories of Horses on the tallest point in the Midlands.
We notice unusual shoots and buds in Winter and the recovery in Spring. We mimic balletic daffodil faces and laugh at mud schklhuupp sounds. We smell Cherry Plum Blossom welcoming the buzz of Queen Bees.
Holly's noticings from a seasonal walk in March 2026. The first cherry plum blossoms attracting queen bees. Recent rain meant there was an incredible array of stunning fungi. A recent landslide had cracked open basalt rock which hasn’t seen the light of day since it was magma 300 million years ago.