Artist In Residence
The Imagined Winter Garden Trail is the result of GROW a-i-r, the first artist in residence appointment on Grow Sheffields Community Growers Project.
In July this year I was appointed Artist in Residence on the Community Growers Project. Their long-term vision is to have everyone in Sharrow growing their own vegetables, albeit in backyards, front gardens, balconies, window boxes or cascading down tower blocks. It was an open remit to create new, innovative artwork(s) within the scheme and with the communities involved.
During the first part of the residency I visited a number of the participant’s growing spaces, where I listened, observed, took photos and started to build up a picture of what it meant to grow vegetables in a city. Alongside this process I also made my first real attempt to grow; spinach, beetroot, potatoes, leeks, dwarf beans, coriander, basil & parsley, some of which were more successful than others. This hands-on approach gave me grounding in what became a much broader & more philosophical discussion around growing. The grower’s aims weren’t on a grand scale, for most it wasn’t necessarily about self-sufficiency, for some it was simply a way of doing things that they had brought with them from another country or something they had done as child. But what linked them all together was an awareness of space, community, health, nourishment, ecology and environment, all subjects that repeatedly came up. To grow your own seemed to be making a conscious action, one in which connected you directly to these larger concerns.
There was a sense that you get a greater understanding of something when you see it through from start to finish, to be a party to the whole cycle and to see how things connect. Growing can slow down time; the duration in which it takes a vegetable to fully grow from seed creates more space for thought and an appreciation for what it is you’re nurturing. When it comes to harvesting, cooking and eating, you feel a connection and sense of achievement. People want to share this pride, which has an effect on the family, friends & neighbours around them, through shared meals, exchanging and giving of vegetables and the mutual use of community space. A greater sense of awareness around food production and consumption was instilled, even for those who grew only one tomato plant on a balcony. It made people ask questions about the food they bought. Where did it come from? How was it grown and who grew it? What effect did it have on the land and the communities that live near it?
These links between individuals, food, land and community became the starting point for The Imagined Winter Garden Trail.
