Modular steel cage, green mesh, readymade figurines, grass clippings, styrofoam boxes, dried leaves, vegetable
Dimensions variable
Simulation of a Closed Loop (2022) is a site-specific intervention that took place in a shared car park facility of a public housing estate. The project speculates on the idea of food circularity, which minimises the production of waste by implementing regenerative practices in a neighbourhood. Through the artifice within the images of displaced objects in a public area, he hopes that it would generate alternative discourses on greening underutilised spaces from the ground up.
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Wioodgrove Zone 1 Community Garden: Coach, Cik Zahara, Ian
Recently, I had taken part in the annual Objectifs Shooting Home Youth Award; a two month photography programme for students between the age of 18 and 23, where selected participants are mentored by industry professionals to create a photography project. I embarked on mine for the first time that is tangential to my interest in horticulture.
Almost seven months ago, my objective of cultivating plants initially was to examine the socio-cultural associations plants might have historically whilst experimenting alternative printing processes with them. As I spent time at the common areas around my flat to create my prints, I had run into a few neighbours who have also been growing plants outside their homes. Through those casual conversations at the void deck, I had been on friendly terms with them.
Those interactions encouraged me to think how a recreational activity such as horticulture can be socially engaging, and that opened up to many ideas of producing works that are collaborative in nature. I pitched this to the faculty of the programme on the first day, along with my elaborate idea to put plants up on a carpark rooftop as a form of intervention.
In the weeks that followed, I pursued this self-directed research on the interrelations of horticulture and socio-individual wellness in a neighbourhood and urban farming in underutilised spaces.
Later, the neighbours at my residential flat were reluctant to engage or could not make the time to meet, so I had to consider other options. Despite the setback, I am grateful to have met a few kind individuals who were agreeable to being photographed; a florist and three members of a community garden in my neighbourhood. I interviewed them individually, through which I learned about their experiences and insights that they have developed in horticulture. From building a circle of friends in the neighbourhood, producing organic vegetables, to advocating sustainable practices in gardening and mini closed loop systems.
Deriving inspiration from these interviews, I reoriented and questioned the outcome that I had in mind during the first pitch: beyond just potted plants, what are some takeaways from the interviews that I can translate into a performative gesture? Or rather, in what ways could an underutilised space be used for recreational activity, besides just gardening? Finally, could a closed loop system be manifested here?
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If you would like to view the interviews and documentation, send an email to mdrusydan@gmail.com, or DM me here. I would like to thank Marvin Tang for his feedback and support throughout this programme.