Seeding the Commons was a programme of art and research from Custom Food Lab curated by Cherry Truluck, supported by Arts Council England, exploring art-making as a practice of commoning knowledge systems around food. It includes a series of convivial gatherings and offerings in the form of workshops, artist publications and discursive events alongside the development of artist-led community food growing practices with the Locavore Growing Project. It culminated with a major online festival, the “Seed Gathering” which was curated in partnership with the Gaia Foundation.

The programme included commissions to envisage a “patchwork commons” from Raju Rage, Alise Kirtley, Francine Hajilou, em Ghassempour, Cherry Truluck and zoë laureen palmer. The community feast was developed in collaboration with artist/research duo Another Provision, a series of “Entangled Roots” community knowledge share events were brought together by Charmaine Jacobs and translocal connection workshops were hosted by the Land Workers Alliance (People’s Food Summit), University College London and Frome Food Network. The project was carefully held in an ecosystem of care by the Custom Food Lab directors and an artists steering group (Sage Brice, Hilary Powell, Alice Tatton-Brown, Cherry Truluck) – guided by project care-taker Jack Ky Tan.

You can read “Habitat: a creative project manual for community food growing” here.