Allotment Diaries and Environmental Hubs

Environmental Hubs: Environmental Hubs was a 2 year residency programme 2011-12, working across various allotment and urban gardening sites across the UK, supported by Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England. The project looked to explore the hidden social and political infrastructure of allotment sites and the nuances of the communities which make up these microcosms of society. The project included a specific 3 month intensive collaborative residency at the Bradley Fold Allotment Site in Manchester entitled Allotment Diaries. The residency included working in collaboration with the allotment holders, myself and a selection of invited multidisciplinary artists and resulting in a new body of site specific text works, video works and a group artist show on-site at the allotment. A selection of the work was later showcased at the Cultivation Fields exhibition at the University of Reading curated by Kate Corder. Within this wider project I also undertook the Allotment Diaries project: As a result of a 3 month residency at Bradley Fold Allotments, South Manchester (part of the Allotment Diaries & Environmental Hubs project supported by Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England) a number of collaborative site specific text, photography and video works were exhibited as part of an “open shed” event. Work produced was informed through a process of dialogue and exchange between myself and the allotment community, pulling weeds and cooking for residents with surplus crops in exchange for stories and images which represented their relationship to the allotment and each other.