From the Place of Soils 

Workshop / Collective glossary / Publication / 2024–2025

A community workshop held at the Revolt Centre in Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, exploring cultural practices of engagement with the soil — particularly vegetable gardening — as forms of embodied knowledge passed down through generations.

Workshop (July 2024) 

At tipping points in history, we turn to the land, seeking re-connection and re-foundation. Many of us return to on-the-ground practices handed down by mothers and grandmothers — tending vegetable gardens, finding support in an ongoing relationship with the soil. This workshop recognised vegetable gardening as a living knowledge, an embodied collaboration between human and non-human.

Guided by the principles of co-creation, participants examined soil practices as forms of artistic expression based on personal stories. Together we asked: What stories can we tell each other? How do individual stories influence the global context? During the workshop, we collaboratively compiled a glossary of our own descriptions of different soil practices inside the vegetable garden.

Publication (February 2025)

The collective glossary formed the basis for Ogorod — a riso-printed zine (205 × 105 mm) gathering cultivation practices and soil-related knowledge passed down by women in post-socialist rural contexts. Through collaborative writing, drawing, and sharing of experiences, participants created a living archive reflecting embodied, everyday, and historical forms of resilience.

The peer-reviewed article From the Place of Soils was published in the first issue of the artistic research journal Landing, titled Edge of the Glacier. It explores how traditional gardening practices sustain communities and cultivate feminist resilience.

Location: Revolt Centre, Syktyvkar, Komi Republic
Date: July 2024
Publication: DOI: 10.37522/dx29p460