Abstract
We Reap what we Sow is a gardening and movement project on an urban allotment in inner city Birmingham in the UK, embodying slow movement methodologies and documented over the course of a year in 2019-2020. It is part of ongoing work as a gardener and dancer: a long-term research endeavour entitled And So We Sow, developing since 2017.
I offer a sharing of part of the project, and which investigates the nature of embodiment in this situation, and the relationship between the self, (eco-)somatics, and gardening.
The work necessitates an autobiographical perspective, and my own stories are weaved in amongst the plants and the earth, the weather and the wider world, and set against the political and health landscapes of a global pandemic which began unexpectedly after the project had been initiated and meant that dissemination of the work is via digital means.
The research took the form of regular activity of working the land and recording this through embodied writing practices, (dance) film, and movement, as well as the production, sharing, preparation and consumption of food. I am curious about the possibility of defining the act of gardening as a somatic practice, and how the relationship with the land(scape), plants and nature informs embodiment. We can learn then that allowing time and space in the environment enables the possibility of cultivating a remembering of our embodiment, of our connection to the land, to community, creativity and to ourselves. The work also considers how gardening has become a salve for many during the pandemic, and how a return to the land is often seen in troubled times.
I offer a sharing of part of the project, and which investigates the nature of embodiment in this situation, and the relationship between the self, (eco-)somatics, and gardening.
The work necessitates an autobiographical perspective, and my own stories are weaved in amongst the plants and the earth, the weather and the wider world, and set against the political and health landscapes of a global pandemic which began unexpectedly after the project had been initiated and meant that dissemination of the work is via digital means.
The research took the form of regular activity of working the land and recording this through embodied writing practices, (dance) film, and movement, as well as the production, sharing, preparation and consumption of food. I am curious about the possibility of defining the act of gardening as a somatic practice, and how the relationship with the land(scape), plants and nature informs embodiment. We can learn then that allowing time and space in the environment enables the possibility of cultivating a remembering of our embodiment, of our connection to the land, to community, creativity and to ourselves. The work also considers how gardening has become a salve for many during the pandemic, and how a return to the land is often seen in troubled times.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Digital Performing Arts |
Subtitle of host publication | Participatory Practices in a Digital Age |
Publisher | University of the Arts Press Serbia |
Pages | 204-229 |
Publication status | Published (VoR) - 2023 |