The Earth Moves community collective, led by Paula Ishtar and artist Lo Teirney, created a vibrant collaborative art and horticulture project centred on a large dragon-head sculpture painted with striking purple and orange spots. 

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This community artwork combines creativity, environmental awareness, accessibility, and practical permaculture design, bringing people together through shared artistic expression and ecological action.

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The dragon head symbolises strength, transformation, protection, and wisdom and was created during the Year of the Dragon. The sculpture becomes part of a unique, disability-accessible Hugelkultur planting installation — the first large Hugelkultur structure built in Wirral. Participants from diverse backgrounds contribute to painting, decorating, planting, and developing the installation, helping to create a welcoming and inclusive community space.

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The dragons ‘make-up’’ was inspired by the group's favourite drag queens.​

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Inside the dragon's head lives organic matter. The alchemical act of composting shows how matter is transformed from superfluous rubbish into a valuable product.

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Hugelkultur is a sustainable gardening technique that uses raised beds filled with logs, branches, composted plant material, and other organic matter. As the wood slowly decomposes, it retains moisture like a sponge and gradually releases nutrients back into the soil, helping the site resist both flooding and drought while supporting biodiversity and healthy soil ecosystems. As part of this process, charred embers from the Earth Moves community hub, destroyed in an arson attack, are respectfully incorporated into the structure as symbols of resilience, renewal, and transformation.

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The bold purple and orange spots on the dragon represent creativity, enthusiasm, healing, and harmony, reflecting the collaborative and joyful spirit of the project. Workshops encouraged community participation through painting, discussion, planting and environmental learning.

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The completed artwork is digitally transformed for display on a wooden headboard and accompanied by an information board explaining the project’s background, the significance of the dragon, and the environmental principles behind Hugelkultur.

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Funded by Starbucks and Hubbub.