Look! I left some seeds in your pocket

What connects seeds in Morocco, Scotland, and Greece? And how do struggles for land and water connect us?

Join a gathering and conversation with artist and farmer Alkmini Gkousiari, who will share explorations and experiences from their recent Seed Library residency, hosted by The Mothership in Tangier.

Hold seeds in your hands, listen to the voices of those who have been saving them and reflect on how we might not only preserve these traditions, but re-imagine them as acts of resistance against forces like modernisation, coloniality, and monocultures.

With a focus on journeys through the North and South of Morocco, this will be an introduction to some of the people and organisations Alkmini was in conversation with and their important work.

We will speak about remembering and forgetting, about seed saving, water scarcity, gardeners and their gardens, farmers and their fields.

About the event

This conversation is the second half of a two-part event, the first of which is the screening of Amussu (5 - 6:45pm) in the CCA Cinema. Your ticket will grant you access to both parts of the event, as well as the sharing of Moroccan food between 6:45 – 7:15pm in Common Ground.

Tickets

This event is raising funds for Dar Si Hmad, an organisation in south west Morocco which supports sustainable livelihoods and agroecological training for local communities to learn and prosper. Their seed library, Tin’Amoud, is the first seed library of the region, a space for safeguarding local heirlooms and perpetuating the tradition of bartering and sharing unique seeds adapted to dry and semi-dry local conditions. Please donate as much as you are able.

Tickets are on a sliding scale, and free for refugees, asylum seekers and forced migrants from any country. If this is you, please email glasgowseedlibrary@cca-glasgow.com to book a free Solidarity Ticket. You do not need to tell us your circumstances.

About the contributors

Alkmini Gkousiari has worked as a cook, art teacher, community gardener, beekeeper, farmer and from 2021-2023, seed librarian at Glasgow Seed Library. They are a lover of snails and slugs, and they’re currently researching the relationship between rural and urban identities in Greece, their connection to land and belonging amidst economic and cultural pressures. Alkmini’s art practice plays with ideas of ‘motherland’ and of ‘home’ as mythology. They use their playful sense of storytelling in collaborations, performances and sculptural works to respond to whichever landscape they find themselves in through the process of visual, sonic and oral myth-making.

The Mothership is an artist-led project by Yto Barrada creating space and time for research, artistic exploration, and retreat, inspired by natural dyes. Based in Tangier, the project is envisioned as an ‘eco-campus’ for growing, making, and learning about natural dyes and indigenous traditions, and a place for experimental collective artistic practice through art residencies and workshops. The Mothership will be “a place to conjure pan-African eco-feminist practices into being”.

Glasgow Seed Library is a collection of seeds and a community of growers. The library stocks organic and open-pollinated vegetable, herb and flower seeds for everyone to borrow, grow and save. By learning to save and share seed locally, we can nurture unique varieties and adapt our plants to a changing Scottish climate. Throughout the year, Glasgow Seed Library runs free workshops, talks and events around seed saving, community growing, land justice and earth care.

Accessibility

The CCA cinema is a wheelchair accessible space. The full event will include a comfort break with vegetarian and vegan snacks, served in the courtyard space (not the cinema). Please email glasgowseedlibrary@cca-glasgow.com with any questions or access requests.