<div>Our entire existence is dependent on our relationship with soil. As awareness builds of the enormity of the ecological crisis that we are facing, a growing number of artists are engaging with soil as a material in their work. This three part series responds to the Somerset House exhibition ‘Soil: The World at Our Feet’, unearthing soil's role in our future through the work of artists and thinkers working with it.<br>
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Soil is the basis of many creation stories around the world. It is our beginning, and it is what we will return to. In Episode 1 of Common Ground we look at soil as the matter from which life emerges. Exploring growth, beginnings and the ways soil as a material offers unique opportunities for exploration. <br>
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We hear from artist <strong>Asad Raza</strong> who makes ‘neo-soil’ from scratch and covers the floor of galleries with it. Artist <strong>Eve Tagny</strong>’s work examines the cultivation of the Rose as a way to ask questions about the ways we interact with the world. Agroecologist <strong>Nicole Masters</strong> and farmer <strong>Abby Rose</strong>, lay out what soil is and why it holds the key to our survival. <br>
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The episode is set within the garden of our presenter <strong>Shenece Oretha</strong>. Working with soil has shaped her relationship to the place where she lives and informed her art practice. <br>
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<strong>SOIL: Common Ground is a three-part podcast series exploring what soil can teach us about being human, through the lens of art.</strong><br>
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<em>Soil is unsung, and largely hidden from view. What if we were to put it in the foreground? To think of it as a collaborator? </em><br>
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The series launches off from the Somerset House exhibition <a href="https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/press/soil-the-world-at-our-feet">SOIL: The World at Our Feet</a>.<br>
Presented by Shenece Oretha<br>
Produced by Jo Barratt and Alannah Chance <br>
Exec produced by Alannah Chance and Eleanor Ritter-Scott. <br>
The series is mixed by Mike Woolley<br>
Original music by Andrew Pekler<br>
Episode Image: Asda Raza - credit Luca Guadagnini.<br>
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