Shereen Saif

Tok tok pop pop pop pling

Bursting out of pavement cracks, dividers, crevices. Sprouting alongside the cultivated, claiming my space, in the sun, under the shade. Green. Resilient. Of the soil, of this land. Forgotten.

Resistant to the harshness of sun, wind and water. But not to the harshness of change. I have lost out to the exoticness of kale, the cuteness of baby spinach and the allure of alfalfa.

I long to be paired with potatoes. Parched and powdered to percolate my essence into fine tea cups.

Cheera thoran

Green Amaranth Leaves Stir Fry

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Ingredients

Green Amaranth Leaves - 300 gms

Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard Seeds - ½ tsp

Whole Crushed Garlic - 2-3

Shallots (small Indian onions) – 4-6

Green Chillies - 2

Dry Red Chillies (optional) - 2

Grated Coconut – 2 tbsp

Turmeric Powder- a pinch

Salt to taste

Directions

Forage for Green Amaranthus with young, tender leaves and thin stems.

Soak the greens in salt water, wash and clean the bunch.

Roughly chop the greens and keep it aside.

Heat coconut oil in a frying pan, add the mustard seeds and let it pop.

Add the crushed garlic and dry red chillies and give it a good stir.

Add the chopped shallots, the slit green chilies and a pinch of turmeric. Fry till the onions turn translucent.

Now add the chopped amaranth leaves, stir well. Cover and cook for 5 mins.

Add salt and combine.

Finally add the grated coconut and mix well to combine. Stir for a minute.

Turn off the heat and serve.

Urban foraging is a ubiquitous practice that has existed historically since the growth and establishment of cities, carried out predominantly by migrant workers and marginalised, lower income communities. Shereen’s interest in urban foraging began in Bangalore, stemming from her need to engage with her immediate ecosystem and appreciate nature in its pervasive and non-idealised form.

May is an urban foraging project in which Shereen explores the relational ecology of belonging, transposing what foraging means to her in the context of where she lives in the UAE. The project maps the edible and non-edible flora that grows seasonally in the month of May, around three blocks in and around Villa 5, Street 61b, Jumeirah 1, where she lives.

Ceding control to the whims of season and chance, Shereen plays the role of a researcher and facilitator in this collaborative project that relies heavily on the skill and generosity of nature, the gardeners, and chefs. An eclectic mix of edible ingredients were sensitively foraged by Shereen and the gardeners on Friday, 26th May and offered to the chefs as a prompt to concoct a vegetarian spread with the constraint that they could only combine it with what could be readily foraged from the Alserkal Arts Foundation pantry.

The foraging table is an open invitation to savour the fruits of the city and our labour and partake of the precious edibles until there is no more.

Thanks to Abdul Salam, Gul Khan, Badiur Zzaman, Nilmini Liyanaga, Chef Nahla Tabbaa and Chef Dalia Arja.

About Shereen Saif

Shereen Saif is an actor, dancer, and artist weaving stories real and imagined. Like her name, she is sweet, tangy and cuts like a knife.

She is an Indian Classical dancer conversant in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, and Kathak and her craft as an actor draws from her training in India at Natanakairali and Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Art Research.

Shereen is interested in the interplay between disciplines. Marrying intuition and method, her practice in the realm of conceptual art explores the relationship between body, time, material and space.

An alumna of the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF, 2021-22), Shereen is a founding member of Star Too—Dubai’s first experimental theatre project—and was an artist collaborator in Trance-Forms, an initiative of the Emirati-French Cultural Programme: Dialogue with the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Her solo storytelling show “A Woman’s Mind” was awarded the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation Production grant (2021) and premiered in 2022 with the support of Alserkal Avenue.

@shereensaifme

May

About Shereen Saif

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