#annachrystalstephens

The Found Food Event last Saturday, hosted by present Platform residents Anna Chrystal Stephens and Glen Stoker, gave the guests a chance to taste an array of freshly picked offerings from the Peaks District. 

The event began with an insight into the artists’ inspirations and influences, giving the guests a chance to share thoughts and ask questions about their three day walk from Stoke to Sheffield earlier in the week. In particular we heard about their interest in the Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age, period) with clear comparisons to the fast paced society we live in today.

Post discussion refreshments gave the opportunity for the intrigued audience to sample some of the edibles and with the right knowledge; easily collectable natural finger foods tasted. Tree leaf salad - made of Hawthorn leaf, Lime tree leaf and Birch, all with surprisingly pleasant tastes ranging from a hint of apple leaf to a more nutty taste, to zingy almost kiwi-like Sorrel leaves were some of the best received dishes available to taste. Sprigs of harrow and nettle leaves were bunched up ready for the guests to brew their own natural tea.

There will be more opportunities coming up to get involved with the Platform Residency in the next coming weeks!

Anna Chrystal Stephens and Glen Stoker are versatile artists who enjoy primarily working with photography, sculpture, installation and film. They are both interested in many socio-economic ideas including human interaction, human living conditions, living strategies, the concepts of place and space and different cultures ways of life. 

During their residency at site gallery they will be producing a piece that is based around their interests and primarily different strategies for living and survival in a possible dark futuristic world where the government has failed us. 

Come see what is sure to be an interesting and diverse piece manifest itself over their 5 week residency in July/August 2016.

For more information on the artists you can visit their websites at: http://glenstoker.co.uk/ and http://annachrystal.com/ 

In the camping supplies section of local store Evisons, Anna Chrystal Stephens presented an installation concerning survivalism and basic shelter, including a short performance about an imagined future society which has reconnected with nature.

In 2414 it is difficult to imagine 'The Separation' era; just a few hundred years ago. Humans had attempted to extract themselves from the rest of nature with intricate and deeply embedded myths like ‘unlimited production’ and ‘right to domination’. Food was often sourced in a complicated process involving many transactions, trafficking of ingredients and products and synthesising and packaging of food items.