Sijelo Collective in Leeds - Arts of Noticing
Meanwood Valley Urban Farm Meanwood, England
Thursday, July 23 • 10 AM - 5 PM
Meanwood Valley Urban Farm Meanwood, England
Thursday, July 23 • 10 AM - 5 PM
(supported by the Critical Digital Practice Lab)
“Noticing is my way of opposing... it is trying to take those blinders off to look at the world around us, with special attention to the more-than-human world (the human plus non-human world).” – Anna Tsing
'Arts of Noticing' was a one-day symposium where artists, researchers, technologists and organisers making and thinking with plants came together to explore questions about nature, memory, and human connection through the senses. There was a series of workshops and activities about embodiment and sensing with plants, followed by a creative activity in the afternoon where we brought together all that we've learned in order to create a collaborative living collage.
On the day
the art of noticing things
Bo Olawoye of Sijelo facilitated a walking* activity where we will spend some time wandering, looking and using our senses to explore the farm.
Bo Olawoye of Sijelo facilitated a walking* activity where we will spend some time wandering, looking and using our senses to explore the farm.
Plant Switching II
Joanne Armitage of CDP Lab led us in the digitisation of plant–human connections through the creation of simple soft-circuit switches.
Joanne Armitage of CDP Lab led us in the digitisation of plant–human connections through the creation of simple soft-circuit switches.
Commoning & [Co-]sensing Thought Forms
How can we sense a shared language manifested in land, people and ephemera? In this playful collaborative workshop with artist Kim Chin of Sijelo, we explored how we feel through natural forms and imagined symbolism of visual forms of communication by communities-activists-artists.
How can we sense a shared language manifested in land, people and ephemera? In this playful collaborative workshop with artist Kim Chin of Sijelo, we explored how we feel through natural forms and imagined symbolism of visual forms of communication by communities-activists-artists.
Sculpting with Nature
In this relaxed and experimental workshop facilitated by Tasnim Siddiqa Amin of Sijelo, we explored your relationship with land and power through a queer lens through material collaging.
In this relaxed and experimental workshop facilitated by Tasnim Siddiqa Amin of Sijelo, we explored your relationship with land and power through a queer lens through material collaging.
About the Facilitators
Boseda Olawoye (known as Bo) is a freelance creative producer/consultant based in Nottingham who works nationally and beyond. She specialises in developing arts projects, programmes and cultural strategies with and for diverse communities, young people(13+), marginalised groups and artists.
Joanne Armitage is a digital media practitioner, researcher and artist. She is co-founder of the international maker-activist collective sus_NET (Sustainable Making for Feminist Action), which collaboratively explores issues of justice and equity through creative, technical and community practice. Her work centres on developing methods to unpack, critically engage with and rebuild technology alongside activist groups and within community contexts. Her approach emphasises slowness, play and the everyday to untangle issues of agency, power and expertise.
Kim Chin (they / she / we) makes art with others. Through experimental textiles, time-based media, installation and facilitating participatory activities, their work is an invitation to enjoy the process of creating, un/learning self-knowledge with others. We notice our breath, bones, mood and energy that we carry into physical and socio-political spaces - consciously and unconsciously. The alchemy of nature is Kim’s teacher; soil, seeds and creatures know no borders. When site-specific textile pieces are shaped by environmental elements and oils of human touch, they explore questions on labour, ownership and material intent.
Tasnim Siddiqa Amin (she/they) is a queer, working-class Bangladeshi-British artist, theatremaker and activist from East London. Her interdisciplinary practice spans theatre, performance art, visual art and community arts facilitation, grounded in anti-racism, postcolonialism and intersectional feminism.
Tasnim’s practice is trauma-informed and grounded in care-based methodologies, shaped by lived experience and a commitment to collective wellbeing. She designs and delivers participatory arts programmes that prioritise accessibility, co-creation, and long-term relationship-building using creativity as a means of connection, reflection and resistance.
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Sijelo are a UK-based art collective of women and non-binary people organising, producing and making at the intersection of climate justice, land rights, migration and displacement. The collective came together through a series of residential events organised by Counterpoints from 2023–4, and now loosely collectivise around specific campaigns, events and issues that feel urgent to us.
The event is funded by Leeds Critical Digital Practice Lab (CDPL), a new creative and critical experimentation space-based at the University of Leeds. The lab is a space where we play with accessible technologies and feminist and decolonial practices in order to develop critical digital methods in response to the emergent moment. Led by Kaajal Modi, Helen Thornham and Joanne Armitage.
'Arts of Noticing' is an independently organized symposium, officially recognized as part of a global conversation sparked by the If Trees Could Talk International Art Biennale.
With special thanks to the EMPIRE LINES podcast, Meanwood Valley Urban Farm, Counterpoints Arts and University of Leeds.