These performative ink drawings were produced during a residency with Vegetable Agenda at Blaenffos Permaculture Market Garden, farmed by artists Debbie Rees and Julian McKenny, who employ the ethics and principles of permaculture – a socio-ecological-economic practice.
There I sowed seeds, watered seedlings, shovelled manure, and picked vegetables and cooked with the fresh produce straight from the garden, eating with my hands. The walk from the kitchen to the garden is less than the journey most of us make to our local supermarket. Yet we can eat the most nutritious food by growing and picking it from our own gardens or community allotment, and at the same time compost our waste vegetable matter to enrich the soil without the pesticides and artificial fertilisers of intensive farming methods. Aside from the nourishing food, tending a garden provides us with a valuable activity which exercises our bodies and refreshes our minds.
The use of our human hands in all stages of the process of growing food was the inspiration for the ink drawings which were created using hand gestures on paper and ink.
There I sowed seeds, watered seedlings, shovelled manure, and picked vegetables and cooked with the fresh produce straight from the garden, eating with my hands. The walk from the kitchen to the garden is less than the journey most of us make to our local supermarket. Yet we can eat the most nutritious food by growing and picking it from our own gardens or community allotment, and at the same time compost our waste vegetable matter to enrich the soil without the pesticides and artificial fertilisers of intensive farming methods. Aside from the nourishing food, tending a garden provides us with a valuable activity which exercises our bodies and refreshes our minds.
The use of our human hands in all stages of the process of growing food was the inspiration for the ink drawings which were created using hand gestures on paper and ink.