The THREE FIELDS podcast is an exploration of artists and cultural workers’ perspectives on food justice and digital practices across India, the UK, and South Africa. Over 2 episodes, we delve into conversations, field recordings, and stories emerging from the THREE FIELDS project; an international collaboration and co-commission between Abandon Normal Devices, Arts Catalyst, Fak’ugesi, Fast Familiar, and Unbox Cultural Futures. The project brought together inherited and embodied knowledge and personal experiences around food systems and environmentally conscious creative digital practices.

In Episode 1: Digital embodiment; putting your hands into a bag of rice we hear artists Deepa Reddy, Kaajal Modi and Samukelisiwe Dube and cultural workers Dan Barnard (Fast Familiar) and Lodi Matsetela (Fak’ugesi) dig into the role of digital practices in the context of cultural work that engages with climate and food justice.

In Episode 2: Can you hear a spice talk, what does it say? you will hear artists Deepa Reddy, Kaajal Modi, and Samukelisiwe Dube discuss their practices at the intersection of art and food politics, and their dialogue across the three territories they were working from.

Credits

The THREE FIELDS podcast was produced by Arts Catalyst and is hosted by Anna Santomauro, Head of Programme at Arts Catalyst. This recording took place online, with sound design and production by Kitty Turner. BSL interpretation and subtitles by Dionne Simpson (Diverse Digital). The project was funded by the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants and supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

About the Contributors

Deepa Reddy

Deepa Reddy (India) is a cultural anthropologist, college professor, writer, and blogger. Her blog, Pâticheri, explores food from cultivation to consumption, combining personal narratives, recipes, cultural analysis, and research. Her academic background in anthropology explores the complex relationships between various things in the world which don't seem connected but usually are.

Kaajal Modi

Kaajal Modi (United Kingdom) is an artist-researcher who has a strong material engagement with food, land, water, and the politics of how humans relate to and through these. Their co-creation practice explores how making in collaboration with diverse communities (human, microbial, and otherwise) can be a way to recover climate practices that open up new speculations on how we might live in the future.

Samukelisiwe Dube

Samukelisiwe Siphesihle Dube (South Africa) is a Black, queer multidisciplinary artist and practising tattoo artist from the province of Mpumalanga. Deeply influenced by her late grandmother, she and her mother recreated her garden as a tribute and space for healing. Her work explores nature, grief, and identity through printmaking and plant growth on handmade paper.

Dan Barnard

Dan Barnard (United Kingdom) studied at Cambridge University before training and working as a theatre director. Dan now splits his time between Fast Familiar and researching interactive digital performance as a PhD student in the Informatics Department at the University of Sussex, where he is part of the Creative Technologies research group.

Lodi Matsetela (Fak’ugesi)

Lodi Matsetela (South Africa) is at the forefront of Africa’s digital creative industries. Lodi was Programme Lead at the Digital Content Hub, Tshimologong Precinct (Wits Incubator), where she championed initiatives such as Digital Lab Africa and operated as a partner in the Afrique Créative Consortium. Her commitment to shaping the digital landscape extends to her previous role with Fak'ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival. An award-winning producer and filmmaker, she is also deeply engaged in the evolving discourse on content creation in the age of AI, exploring how emerging technologies can expand narrative possibilities.