Where We Grow
Where We Grow celebrated community gardens and the local people who work, volunteer and spend precious time in them.
During the pandemic, many people became reconnected with the outdoors and nature, with some finding community and sanctuary in community gardens. Where We Grow explored people’s connection to green spaces, and celebrated those local spaces and local people. The project embodied our organisation’s ethos of big ideas in small spaces by bringing live performances of theatre, poetry, storytelling and music to community gardens.
8 local artists were paired together and linked with one of the four participating community gardens across the Black Country. They spent time exploring their gardens and having conversations with the people who work, volunteer or spend time there. Each pair of artists then created a short performance inspired by the people, the space, and the stories they collected from the garden. The result was four wonderful short performances incorporating poetry, music, visual vernacular and spoken word that centred the stories of local people and were tailor-made for each garden and their communities.
The new pieces were performed at each of the four gardens (Gatis Community Space in Wolverhampton, Caldmore Community Garden in Walsall, Dorothy Parkes Allotments in Smethwick and Hawbush Gardens in Brierley Hill) on the 15th, 16th, 23rd and 24th September 2023. They were free to attend and were BSL interpreted, making them accessible to as many people from the local communities as possible.
“Absolutely mesmerising.
Every performance was wonderful and made me emotional.”
“Excellent show. Something for everyone. Lots of local stories and accessibility for those who need it (hearing impaired)”
“The space, the variety & subject was perfect. It grounded me today which I needed.”
“Really lovely event. So varied and a good pace. It’s so great to see different activities in the area for people to experience.”
The Performances
Ritual for the Birth of a Garden
Ishtiaq Hussain and Adrian B Earle welcomed the gardens into being and honoured their stories with a ritual of poetry, sign, visual vernacular and noise.
Inspired by Caldmore Community Garden in Walsall.
The Sleeping Seeds
Sam Frankie Fox and Ricardo Santos Rocha performed The Sleeping Seeds, using music and play to explore what we grow, where we grow and how we grow.
Inspired by Dorothy Parkes Allotments in Smethwick.
The Wild Wood Within
Emma Waterford and Brwn Girl in the Ring (Sophina Jagot) shared a magical story of the path of womanhood, Mama Earth's wisdom and the dance of the sun and the moon.
Inspired by Hawbush Gardens in Brierly Hill.
The Long Way Round
Artists Bohdan Piasecki and Rochi Rampal performed a storytelling piece punctuated by poems.
Inspired by Gatis Community Space in Wolverhampton.
Katy Rose Bennett wove song and music in and around the four performances.
Where We Grow is a Black Country Touring production.
With a huge thanks to our garden partners and all the people who have given their time to share their stories and experiences.
Photography © Anand Chhabra, 2023.
