I am an artist with research-driven multidisciplinary practice exploring the relationships between social anthropology, architecture, philosophy and art through sculpture, installation, sound, performance and food.
At the UNIDEE2021 residency I will to return to and develop a project called ‘Allotment’ that I started about 6 years ago. The project is a social experiment that takes various forms such as dinners, performances, community events and collaborative research exploring the relationship between food, politics and culture. I wish to develop the project further with a focus on foraging, traditional food culture and plant knowledge which is a big part of my own personal culture stemming from Eastern Europe and Baltics.
Considering food as a fundamental building block through which social systems, cultures and societies are (in)formed, 'Allotment' employs interactive participatory events both as a research tool and method of production. I have been recording various forms of traditional plant knowledge passed on through generations about hidden properties of plants, their medicinal effects and how food can shape culture and belief. I am interested in how traditional knowledge of the plant world can be re-introduced into contemporary food cultures and find ways of preserving this knowledge without commercialising it.
Some info and images of my work (that ranges hugely in terms of material and presentation) can be found here:
www.evyjokhova.co.uk
With the onset of globalisation and consumerist culture in post-industrialised societies many people feel left out by the system and this leads to low self-esteem, loss of belief in self, and a separation of body and spirit.
Helping communities re-discover pride, re-vindicate alternative ways of living and find ways of understanding other realities through the re-introduction of traditional plant knowledge.
Re-establish health tools through understanding plants that grow locally, imbue and help bodies gain more life source through consumption of plants and gain greater awareness of the body as a first step to navigating uncomfortable feelings.
Creating a foraging association in Portugal by first overcoming the linguistic issue that there is no word for ‘foraging’ in Portuguese.
Build relationships with plants and the surrounding nature, gathering and preparing food as a ritual.