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Land Body Ecologies Festival Day Three

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Past
  • Free
  • Festival
Photograph of an Ogiek man wearing a green top and red checked shawl white is carrying a long cylindrical tube on his back and carrying a staff. He is facing away from the camera surrounded by the lush green vegetation and tree trunks of the forest. Interwoven into the scene is a graphic element made up of thin orange drawn lines, which create clumps of patterns in the leaf canopy.
Stephen Ngusilo, an Ogiek man, stands in the middle of the Mau Forest in Kenya. © Image courtesy of Jason Taylor. © Illustration overlay courtesy of Quicksand.

What you’ll do

Explore the deep connections between mental health and ecosystem health in this four-day festival. Take part and experience performances, food, workshops, discussions, music, films and more. 

Events are organised by access or interpretation type for easier finding here.

The programme is created by Land Body Ecologies (LBE), from teams across India, Uganda, Kenya, Thailand, the UK and the Arctic.

LBE is a research network of artists, researchers, designers, conservationists, technologists and activists from fields including psychology, arts, ecology, sociology, medicine and human rights. LBE seeks to understand lived experiences of land trauma among marginalised communities.

A range of handcrafted items and publications from LBE’s communities and collaborators will be available at the Wellcome Shop for the duration of the festival.

The Land Body Ecologies festival is produced by Unbox Cultural Futures and Invisible Flock.

Dates

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Past

Past events

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  • Discussion
Culture Loss and Intergenerational Trauma
Hear from speakers about the lasting impacts of coloniality and mainstream impositions on the health of land-dependent and indigenous peoples and how this is being experienced across generations. Systematic loss of traditional knowledge is often rooted in the deprivation of land and territory from communities, as these spaces are essential for the execution and, in turn, transfer of land-based knowledge systems. You can ask questions or just listen. Speakers from this talk will be available afterwards in the Williams Lounge to continue discussing ideas informally. With Glenn Albrecht, Sylvia Kokunda, Nicole Redvers, Siwakorn Odochao, Romit Raj and moderator Dr Colin Luoma.
  • British Sign Language
  • Speech-to-text

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  • Workshop
Food as Adaptation
Restaurant, level 2
Explore the role of native seeds and hardy crops, such as millet from Karnataka, at a workshop-based meal with Vishalakshi Padmanabhan from the Bannerghatta Hub in India. You will reflect on food, climate-change mitigation and community health.

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  • Installation
Boalno
Reading Room
Experience the sound of being in the centre of 3,000 circling reindeer during the annual reindeer corral in the indigenous-governed Sápmi area of the Arctic via audio recorded at the top of Boalnotjåhkkå mountain during May 2022.

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  • Screening
Absolutely Must Go
Franks and Steel Rooms
Watch ‘Absolutely Must Go’ (2021), a Wady Films production, written by S Jean-Noël Pierre and Sébastien Bonetti and directed by S Jean-Noël Pierre, which tells the story of a forgotten people. The story of a people deleted from the world map. The story of a deported people. Uprooted. From 1967 to 1973, in the midst of the Cold War, the Bancoult family and nearly 2,000 other Chagossians were taken from their archipelago in the Indian Ocean by Great Britain and the United States. The latter set up one of their most important military bases on the main island, Diego Garcia. It is from Diego Garcia that the B52s leave for the Middle East. The control of the Asian countries is carried out from Diego Garcia. Uprooted, but not resigned, Rita Bancoult, the matriarch, and her children Olivier, Ivo and Mimose have chosen to fight against this injustice and the drama that is affecting their people. This is their story.

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  • Gallery tour
AD Tour of Land Body Ecologies Installations
Information Point
Join a visitor experience assistant who will give a short tour of a selection of installations on display for the festival and provide audio descriptions.
  • Audio described

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  • Discussion
Ogiek Storytelling
Reading Room
Join Ogiek community members from the Mau Hub in Kenya to experience cultural practices such as traditional songs, storytelling and traditional hive-making, which connect people to the land and ecologies around them.

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  • Discussion
Communicating Climate and Health
The climate crisis has been described by Norwegian psychologist and economist Per Espen Stoknes as the greatest failure of communication of all time. You will hear about the multifaceted ways artists, journalists, community leaders and healthcare professionals are using creative approaches and platforms to highlight underreported issues, simplify the data, demystify the jargon, counter misinformation and question who is authoring climate and health challenges. You can ask questions or just listen. Speakers from this talk will be available afterwards in the Williams Lounge to continue discussing ideas informally. With Alice Bell, Arjun Kapoor, Jennifer Katanyoutant, and moderator Fiona Harvey.
  • British Sign Language
  • Speech-to-text

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  • Screening
The Road to Kuthriyar
Franks and Steel Rooms
Watch ‘The Road to Kuthriyar’ (2021), a film that follows Dhruv, a wildlife researcher from the city, who is faced with the task of conducting a “mammal survey” of the 600-square-kilometre Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, India. Armed with 40-year-old maps of the area and a GPS device, he must navigate the park on foot, and he recruits a local tribesman from the area, Dorai, to serve as his guide. The severity of the task immediately becomes apparent to Dhruv. Aside from the physical challenge posed, he struggles with his wayward assistant. Not only is Dorai addicted to alcohol, but he also appears to be terrified of officials. Through the course of their journey, however, the two forge an unlikely friendship and a relationship between equals. When an accident takes him to Dorai’s village, the wool of ‘civilisation’ is lifted from Dhruv’s eyes and his attitudes towards the marginalised are transformed.

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  • Workshop
Ogiek Hive-Making
The Studio
Join Ogiek elder John Sironga as he presents some of the tools and techniques used to build traditional beehives in the Mau Forest in Kenya. For the Ogiek, honey is food, it is medicine, it is front and centre in both celebration and healing. John’s words and your questions will be translated.

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  • Discussion
Health Justice Amidst the Environmental Crisis
Hear from a panel delving into why action to address community health must take a human-rights-based approach. The world is experiencing an unprecedented water crisis, at the heart of which lies some of the greatest challenges of our time: climate change, biodiversity loss and food insecurity. Speakers will explore cases of water injustice as a starting point, including how collapsing ecosystems affect health and why minorities and indigenous communities are disproportionately affected. With Nicole Redvers, Shodona Kettle, Prof. Mala Raos, Claire Thomas and moderator Patricia Kingori.
  • British Sign Language
  • Speech-to-text

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  • Workshop
Coffee with Swae
Restaurant, level 2
Attend a coffee ceremony led by Siwakorn Odochao of the Ban Nong Tao community in Northern Thailand. You will prepare and drink Lazy Man coffee together as Swae shares the philosophy behind Pgak’yau farming practices. Suitable for vegans.

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  • Screening
Barley Fields on the Other Side of the Mountain
Franks and Steel Rooms
Watch ‘Barley Fields on the Other Side of the Mountain’ (2017), a film by Tian Tsering, telling the story of a 16-year-old Tibetan girl, Pema. Despite her inability to fully understand the political disputes between Tibet and China, Pema strives for freedom as she helplessly searches for her father, who has been arrested by the authorities. The characters in ‘Barley Fields’ convey the difficult realities of China’s rule over Tibet, and ongoing unrest in the region. As she decides whether to abandon her life and follow her friend Choeden over the Himalayas into the safety of India, Pema attempts to overcome her struggles in a fearless manner that fosters boundless empathy. Contains references to violence.

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  • Discussion
Podcast as Method for Climate and Health Research
Join this discussion about processes of collaborative research used during the making of the Land Body Ecologies Podcast. The discussion itself will be recorded as part of the podcast series, which features ecosystems from Kenya, Uganda, India, Thailand and the Arctic, and real stories of solastalgia. With Lilian Maina, Samson Luari, Victoria Pratt, Ben Eaton, Babitha George and moderator Samrawit Gougsa.
  • British Sign Language
  • Speech-to-text

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  • Installation
Microtonal
Crypt Gallery
Witness the sight and sound of 200 borindos, small clay wind instruments made by master potter Allah Jurio from the earth of the Sindh region of Pakistan. The borindos in the installation respond live to the sounds of the gallery space, field recordings from Sindh, and the music of Faqir Zulfiqar playing the instrument. ‘Microtonal’ is a collaboration between Faqir Zulfiqar, Allah Jurio and Invisible Flock, and was originally commissioned by Karachi Biennale with support from the British Council Pakistan. The Crypt Gallery is located in St Pancras New Church, Duke’s Road, Off Euston Road WC1H 9AD. The Gallery is reached by going down steps with a handrail; there is no ramp or lift, and the floor in the Crypt is uneven.

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  • Installation
Stories of Entanglement
The Forum
Visit the Land Body Ecologies’ ‘Stories of Entanglement’ installation to experience objects, photographic books, immersive sound and video installations, and live Ogiek hive-building. The installation will embody real stories and lived experiences of land-dependent, marginalised communities across India, Kenya, Uganda and the Arctic.

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  • Installation
Asking the Salmon to Return
Ground floor Atrium
Watch Jenni Laiti’s performance for video, which asks the salmon to return to the river. Atlantic salmon are an ecologically and culturally key species in Sápmi, the traditional indigenous territory of the Sámi people in Northern Europe. Over recent years, the changing climate across the Arctic has led to the decline of salmon populations. The word ‘bivdit’ in Sámi language means to catch something, but also to ask for something from someone. The video is 6:01 mins and will be playing on a loop.

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  • Installation
Ovdavázzit – Forewalkers
Ground floor Atrium
‘Ovdavázzit – Forewalkers’ is an installation of 37 freestanding Sámi walking sticks forming a path, created by Sámi artists Outi Pieski and Jenni Laiti. The constellations of the sticks bring together indigenous knowledge, ancestral technology, traditional crafts and sovereignty. This will be the UK premiere of this installation.

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  • Installation
Virran Mukana
Staircases and landings
Experience a sound installation by Chris Watson, featuring recordings from the Arctic sea ice to a freshwater lake and the dawn chorus at the midnight sun beyond, with the hydrodam power station blocking the Kemijoki river in between. On each of the six floors you can explore different parts of the journey.

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  • Chill out
Chill-Out Room
Viewing RoomStudio Breakout Room
Any time during the festival that you want to find a space away from the programme of activities, you can come to the Chill-Out Room to lie down or relax. There will be low lighting, comfortable seating, cushions and mats throughout the room. Make use of ear defenders, earplugs, board games and materials with different textures.

Need to know

Location

This is an event with several different activities. Check specific sub-events for their locations.

For more information, please visit our Accessibility page. If you have any queries about accessibility, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call

Our event terms and conditions

About your hosts

Land Body Ecologies

Land Body Ecologies project is a global transdisciplinary research network and the first international residents of The Wellcome Hub. The collaborators and members of the Land Body Ecologies project participating in the festival are Invisible Flock, Quicksand, Minority Rights Group International, Kaisa Keratar, Dr Outi Autti, Action for Batwa Empowerment Group, Sylvia Kokunda, Emmanuel Barugahare, Turyomurugyendo Elivera, Eliphazi Kapere, Dr Ayesha Ahmad, Sheila Ghelani, Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program, Daniel Kobei, Lilian Maina, Samson Luari, Ms Emily Katais, Mr John Sironga, Bharat Mirle, Chris Watson, Professor Ilan Kelman, Jennifer Katanyoutanant, Jenni Laiti, Dr Nicole Redvers, Nishant Srinivasaiah, Outi Pieski, Siwakorn Odochao, Vishalakshi Padmanabhan, Faqir Zulfiqar, Carl-Johan Utsi, Arjun Kapoor.

The Hub

The Hub is Wellcome’s dedicated space for transdisciplinary research, situated on the fifth floor of Wellcome Collection. The Hub Award is a funded two-year residency, granted to a collaborative research group that brings together people from different backgrounds such as academia, advocacy and the arts to explore specific questions of human health. Land Body Ecologies holds the current Hub Award. The next grant call will be announced in 2024.