Pleased to have a fresh instructional text included in ‘In, From & With: Exploring Collaborative Survival’, edited by Grace Denis and published by Circadian.
“An interactive book exploring the notion of collaborative survival through a series of invitations by twenty four contributors. The collectively constructed lexicon proposes an array of embodied pedagogies from walking to fermenting, including a multitude of edible and non-edible recipes. Edited by Grace Denis. Designed by Gal Sherizly.
Preface by Anna Tsing. Contributions from Adwoa Addae, Angela Chan, Asha Mines, Agustine Zegers, Catriona Sandilands, David Horvitz, Eden Batki, Fernando García-Dory, Jessie French, Jo Vávra, Justine Parkin, Institute for Interspecies Arts and Relations, Lichen Kelp, Loren Kronemyer, Noon Tran, Nora Slade, Oola, Sanctuary Slimane, Sara Graorac, Sarita Dougherty, Sean Roy Parker, Sophia Winitsky, Susanna Battin, Terrapolis Collective, and Tarangini Saxena.”
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Locality
In experiencing the locality of an object/subject, we place ourselves firmly in a landscape (real, virtual, emotional, spiritual). A relationship with the immediate environment, and everything else outside of this, creates inertia, magnetism or repellence, and from here we can harness the minutiae of an encounter for thought or action. Our body in proximity to others, both human and non-human beings, creates dimensions which can hold multiple histories with equal importance: Time, Distance, Perception, all dynamic markers of memory.
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Now we shall take a walk together in an attempt to find some balance. Clear your schedule.
Pack a small bag with the following: pen, paper, small knife or scissors, napkin or paper bag, hydration, a glove, plastic bag. Take yourself out of the house with a few natural spots in mind, we will go no further than half an hour by foot. Only half-concentrating on where you’re going, entertain your wandering eyes with free association. Acknowledge any anxieties and stick them on the bill.
While you are walking, look for edges - where public and private, wild and maintained meet - they will help you segue between worlds. The tricks of the terrain render property indistinguishable, reclaiming habitats for flora, fauna and insects and increased opportunities for littering. There is food here too, growing year-round in cracks, bogs and infinities.
Red campion, earthworm, broken lighter, yarrow, lamb’s-tongue plantain, scratchcard, cockshafer, chocolate wrapper, viper bugloss, black medick, damsel, used condom.
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I want you to think about sustenance, health and provenance. Everything that is not poisonous is edible, you just might not like the taste and I can think of a dozen spinach alternatives that grow wild within a mile.
With more and more landowners (individuals, businesses, councils) restricting public access, we have little chance of reclaiming local wild food knowledge from the commons. Without a basic understanding of seasonal edibles, this privatisation of abundant nutritional resources only enforces our toxic dependency on the monoculture of agrocapitalism. Language becomes elitist too, particularly around ‘foraging’ and 'organic', separating us further from the answer and each other. The very purposeful degradation of food education in the United Kingdom has bred a nation of cowards, addicted to global carbon, advertising and working-class oppression.
We must embrace our amateurship as the ignition for adventure. Learning about wild food is a challenge we can share with our communities, both local and online. The aim is to decarbonise our diet and revel in post-consumer care structures.
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Trees are invisible architecture. Where did these non-human bodies come from and how and when did they get here? Were their fruits tossed from the coloniser's pockets or seeds knotted up in the hair of the enslaved? Did they fall from a boat or train or cart heading into the city with cargo? That value in today’s money is zero because a tree is invaluable. How many people since have appreciated the shade, caught a breath, held a lover? And spare a thought for street trees, planted for aesthete not ecology and shipped in not grown here, all in the stupidity of Capitalist Realism.
I forgot to tell you to bare legs, but makeshift as you plot a desire line towards the overgrowth. Can we consider the length of the grass, the length of time since the grass was last cut, the length of the walk to wildness? It needs not an answer but does require asking.
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You will now undertake a non-judgemental observation.
Find a comfortable place to sit: on a log, a bench, the grass, your jacket.
Slow your breath, and sit alone with it for five, ten, or fifteen minutes.
Look around without forming thoughts, do nothing except notice the surroundings.
Don’t compare this space to anywhere else, respect and enjoy your moment.
Relax and connect with the environment through the ground and sensory stimulants.
Take your pen and paper, construct a piece of writing.
A poem, a list of non-human bodies, or a passage of automatic writing, or as you please.
It will naturally come to a close. Consider this the first entry in your survival diary.
On your way home, pick up rubbish with your glove and bag.
As a thank-you, cut some flowers for your room.