Following her 2023 residency with This is Nelson, Super Slow Way welcomed Dana as their first artist-in-residence for the Lomeshaye Pop-Up Café and Creative Space in Nelson, Lancashire. Working alongside groups and individuals from the local community, Dana explored how food can act as a catalyst for connection, resilience, and empowerment, and how these qualities can be leveraged to benefit communities.

Dana inhabited the Pop-Up on a monthly basis between April and September 2024, regularly delivering an After School Political Food Club with Marsden Heights Community College students who aimed to transform their canteen. Other sessions included political cooking workshops with local women aspiring to start their own businesses, a book club, and a final Super Slow Feast to reflect on the residency’s contributions.

The Super Slow Feast was a collaboration with Andrew Dean, who led the Food Residency programme to help local residents learn how to start their own businesses. It was also supported by in-situ and local artists, individuals, and groups who ran food justice activities

The feast included:

• Slow open-fire bread-making with Vivienne Joy Coradice

• An alternative canteen prototype, Desi Mela, created by Marsden Heights students and led by Youthworks, where young men learned to make traditional Pakistani food over an open fire

• A live Garam Masala Stories demonstration by Zahida Qureshi and her son, Ajaz, in which Zahida explored the history of spices before blending a fragrant garam masala mix

• A listening book club with Rob St John, envisioning what spaces of listening could become

• A discussion on the co-design and build process of the Pop-Up Space with Ecaterina Stefanescu from the Grenfell-Baines Institute of Architecture

• A workshop on natural remedies for winter, led by medical herbalist Danielle Kay

• Political food T-shirt printing

• A public assembly focused on creating a Nelson Food Strategy

• Taste of Transformation bingo with DJ Shazza

• Five stall holders showcasing local produce and food heritage: Amy Rayner, Hafsah Khan, Leila Rahman, Saffron Kitchen, and Warsaw Kitchen, who prepared an array of Iranian, Italian, and Caribbean dishes, along with some irresistible cakes.

The residency supported the development of a local Food Strategy, introduced young people to creative forms of protest and agency, and raised questions around who can be considered a local food expert.

The residency was supported by:

Commissioner: Super Slow Way Head of Programme: Kate Kershaw Community Producer: Ben Pearson Engagement & Volunteer Co-ordinator: Uzma Raziq Engagement Support: Paddy Spain, Ozzy Taylor Food Empowerment Programmer: Andrew Dean Collaborators: Youthworks (Mashuq Hussain, Jenny Begum); Marsden Heights Community College; Hodge House; in-situ; Gill Watson Partners: Canal and River Trust Photo credits: Diane Muldowney