Story
🌊 30km in 30 days to raise 3K
Hello! My name is Susanna Amato, and I’m swimming 30km in 30 days to raise £3,000 in match funding to unlock larger grants for Landfill of Memories. It’s a funny, moving, and deeply human exploration of hoarding, grief, and the things we just can’t let go of.
Think of it as emotional recycling… but with more goggles and less athlete’s foot. 🏊♀️
Swim starts on the 1st November 2025!
💌 About the Project
If you’ve ever looked at your shit drawer and thought I’ll sort that one day… then this project is for you!
Landfill of Memories started as a live show and podcast exploring my own experience with hoarding and loss, and how our relationships with objects which affect our memories, emotions, and identities, as well as the wider conversation about trauma and grief, waste and sustainability, late capitalism and letting go… It’s grown into something bigger than I ever expected, which is a collective conversation about how we value things, people, and the stories.
Your support will help fund the next phase: rewriting, rehearsals, set and costume design, and launch The Infinite Shelf, a participatory installation inviting people to send messages to the things, people, or moments they’ve kept or lost. Part post office, part bureaucratic department, The Infinite Shelf will be co-developed with communities to send messages to the things, people, or moments they’ve kept, lost, or let go. Visitors can write letters, make drawings, or record voice notes addressed to objects, people, or memories. Over time, the messages are transformed into audio, visual, and digital pieces that expand as the project tours into an ambitious exhibition!
💦 Okay, all sounds great, but why swimming?
Well, you know me. I like to do ridiculous things like learn how to swim at 34 and then do a 30km challenge as if I’ve been swimming my entire life.
I just love it.
I’m more floaty than fast. This isn’t a competition, it’s a creative endurance test!!!
💬 What People Have Said About the Project
Over the past five years I’ve connected with thousands of people whose lives have been affected by hoarding disorder, whether through their own experiences or through a friend, partner, parent, or loved one. Landfill of Memories has been performed in all kinds of spaces from shop windows and staircases in theatres, conferences, and symposiums and has grown into a multi-platform project that continues to grow. Alongside the live performances and workshops, the Landfill of Memories Podcast has reached listeners in more than 35 countries, with over 1,300 downloads, opening up a global conversation about memory, value, and the things we hold on to.
Landfill of Memories had me howling and sobbing - a brilliant structure with sections of real-life memory shredding. A skilful show about grief and hoarding and processing loss in real time - Amanda Fawcett, Programme Producer, HOME (2021)
I cried and laughed, it was powerful. - Industries, DJ
From the mundane - train tickets from Northampton to Manchester, to the even more mundane - tickets from Salford to Manchester. To the templated universal - guides to tourist attractions, bib numbers of fun runs. The intriguingly personal - ripped and repaired photos, birthday cards 10+ year old with fewer kisses than desired. The moving act of shredding photos of family and loved ones. Photos fade, but memories and feelings fade faster? The very current zeitgeist of shared nostalgia (member-berries?) reformed through the intimate nostalgia of paper possessions. All given context with smiles, raised eyebrows, perfectly pitched delivery and embracing ad-libs. McFly. 5 stars.
Landfill of Memories takes the audience on a rollercoaster of a journey, dealing with identity, loss, death and the joy found in life's memories, writer and performer Susanna leads us down into her world giving us snapshots of parts of her life, the good the bad and the sometimes heartbreaking. She delicately balances this thought-provoking piece with flourishes of comedy and sometimes macabre humour. She guides the audience to really engage with her and think about their own lives and their own memories without being forceful or too critical. By showing us her own life and memories and what it takes for her to (physically!!) shred them (those family photographs! But as she so sweetly asks, would we keep them??) she is hoping to gain some catharsis and show people that there can be absolute joy in letting go and maybe we should try it. I for one certainly will and I cannot wait to see what this talented performer has in store next.
I can't imagine what it's like to share something so personal to audiences, never quite knowing how or if they will respond. You only hope they will understand and connect so that has to he applauded first and foremost. It was a great performance and I definitely felt like I was taken on a journey. You rightly challenged preconceptions about hoarders so not only was your show entertaining but also insightful. I've never seen a play about hoarders and hoarding before but it's certainly a phenomenon that's not going away anytime soon so what you said needed to be said and the fact you found a way to do so through performance is brilliant. Not only was your show funny and insightful but also poignant.
What a brave thing to do!
Wow. And sad. And wow. And couldn’t stop laughing….
Every time someone shares a story or recognises themselves in the work, it reminds me that this project isn’t just about hoarding, it’s about empathy, humour, belonging and connection.
Landfill of Memories has been supported by organisations including HOME Manchester, The Pleasance Theatre Trust, Hoarders Helping Hoarders Peer Support Network, Hoarding Disorder UK, Word of Warning (hÅb), Making Space, Bristol, and the University of Salford!
💸 What Your Donation Does
Your support helps pay artists and collaborators, fund rehearsals and R&D, build installations, and provide wellbeing and access support, all of the invisible scaffolding behind the art making.
Your donation will go towards:
- Artist, collaborator and participant fees
- Research and Development phases (rewriting, co-developing and rehearsing)
- Tour of Landfill of Memories
- Tour of The Infinite Shelf
- Set and Costume design
- Accessibility and wellbeing support
- Creative materials for workshops, exhibitions and installations
10% of everything raised will go directly to the Equity International Solidarity Fund supporting artists based outside of the UK suffering oppression, persecution or hardship in the pursuit of their profession, including through the provision of small grants!
🏁 Follow the Swim!
I’ll be posting updates, soggy and sexy selfies, and post-swim reflections throughout the 30 days 🩱
You can follow the journey on Instagram and share the link to help me hit £3,000 before my fingers turn permanently pruney!!
Here's the link to my website to find out more about me, and the project!
💚 Thank You
Please share, donate, and help me reach £3,000.
Every £1 you donate could help unlock up to £10 in future funding, bringing this project to more people across the UK!
Thank you for your donation… I am, and will always be, eternally grateful for your support!
