Andrew Atkin, Happy Alchemy, 2020, Video
HAPPY ALCHEMY X THE NEXT FOURTEEN DAYS
For my graduating thesis in may of 2019, Mad Science, Happy Alchemy, I created bodies of work that explored how food infrastructures shape people into communities. In turn I asked how communities might be able shape their own futures by making new infrastructures.
In the year following I have spent my time making tools that I can use for food procurement in the wilds of central Ontario. Tools that serve the wild plants, animals, humans and myself. However I am no longer capable of sharing space and food with those in my human community. Some weeks have gone by where I have been closer to wild black bears than humans. Mortality hangs on my shoulders as I tend the local graveyard, sit alone on my birthday and fear for my community.
In response to the pandemic I have made a series of videos designed to teach folk how to identify, sustainably harvest and eat wild edible foods. This project was supported by The Next Fourteen Days grant provided by OCADU and Kolab Project.
