8 Montemero
(work in progress)
8
(work in progress)
I spent this time mapping out the water in MAR’s area, exploring, collecting, and connecting with the main cause of drought.
This project is funded by the Culture Moves Europe program, by the European Commission and Goethe Institute.
This work is ongoing with curator of MAR Zeren Oruc, where I am working towards a textile and video-based installation work. We plan to exhibit the final works of the project in Berlin in 2025.
Contents:
(1) Photo-mapping project of the landscape spanning desert, farmland, and golf course.
(2) Plant-mapping project of foraged wild and agricultural plants in the area. Natural dye making experimentation and temporary installation in an abandoned peach farm.
(3) ‘Weed’ dumplings collaborative event in the local town. Sunshade made by Martin Kufieta to activate an unused public space. Participatory activity hosted by Jacqueline Jacky.
PHOTO-MAPPING
(selected images)
“Spain [is] the single greatest source of all fresh produce imported into Britain.
The importance of the region to UK consumers was vividly demonstrated in early 2023 when supermarkets began rationing sales of tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce after unseasonable weather reduced greenhouse production by 21% and 22% for cucumbers and tomatoes. “ - Artefact Magazine
Almería is also home to the largest area of greenhouses in the world (almost 32,000 hectares, 20% larger than Birmingham), with 80% of produce sold to foreign markets.
Simultaneously, Almería is home to the only offically classified desert in Europe. The region is rapidly contining to desertify due to climate change, but also the intensive industrial farming in the region,
I wanted to explore this place, so closely tied to the UK, through our daily food consumption, yet somewhere I had never been to before. Despite being its physical distance from my home, I was fascinated by how this land, its inhabitants and its resources were so crucial, through food, to particularly city life in the UK.
During my stay in the region at MAR, I went on many long walks throughout the landscape, heavily documenting my exploration. Tracing the countless irrigation pipes and dried riverbeds, I got a very strong sense for the importance of water, in a way that I had often taken for granted.
These walks also left me with a very tangible feeling of the relentless extraction in the area.
PLANT-MAPPING
(documentation of process)
Alongside photo-mapping, I spent time researching the wild plant-life left in the area, identifying the species and foraging small amounts to create natural dyes that I could then use within my work.
Along a dried riverbed some leafy green species remained such as Fig Trees, or Giant Reed, usually producing bright yellow dye pigments. Yet mostly the biodiversity consisted of highly drought resistant and salt resistant plants (due to the nearby seawater). These plants produced much darker, brown or even purple-blue tones.
I also experimented with some biotanical printing or pattern-making techniques (such as Shibori), attempting to create patterns that mimicked shapes seen in the landscape.
I am currently working on turning these dyed fabrics into a quilt.
The original intention was to create an abstracted map of the space, stitching together the fabrics to reflect the ‘organic archive’ discovered in the area, to be made into an installation. However, working on natural dye-making in a water scarce location made me realise the enormous water consumption needed to extract pigments and dye fabrics. Again, to produce something I will then take home from the area, huge amounts of water is used. For this reason, I wanted to create something I could use and treasure.
Before leaving MAR, I made a temporary installation of the fabrics in an abandoned peach farm next to the residency.
COLLABORATIVE EVENT
(documentation of preparation and event)
I focused on one species of wild plant or ‘weed’ found in the area for this event – Chenopodiastrum murale – otherwise known as Nettle-leaved Goosefoot or Australian Spinach. This is the tall plant pictured in the right of the photo, within the watermelon field. Whilst now commonly seen as a field or roadside weed, its seeds, leaves, stalks and shoots are edible, with its use as food documented across Australia, and the Americas and likened to spinach.
Through a collaboration with fellow artists at MAR Martin Kufieta and Jacqueline Jacky, we hosted a participatory event, questioning how a place, particularly a hostile, abandoned or neglected space can ever be rehabilitated, re-thought, or re-enjoyed.
Martin created a wooden sun-shade and table to enable a space for gathering in a location in the local town that is usually too hot to dwell in during the daytime. In this space, we invited the local community to join us over food.
For my contribution, I questioned – just as fusion cusines can symbolise or document the fusing of cultures throughout time, what connection could we rehabilitate or re-imagine, if we once again prepare, cook and eat these discarded plants? Using Nettle-leaved Goosefoot I had foraged from the local watermelon fields I made chinese dumplings (in a style taught to me by my grandfather). We served steamed dumplings to visitors with bowls and chopsticks made from foraged Giant Reed leaves, hoping to create value, warmth, a sense of community... only using what we could find in the fields left behind.
Whilst we ate, Jacqueline invited visitors to contemplate questions of place and home.