BIOGRAPHY

Collective Conversations are a duo-collective who began their collaborate work at the start of 2021. Emma Schumann (Third Year Fine Art Student) and Brishan Jordan (Fourth Year Fine Art Student) are studying at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The duo focuses on an exchange of practice and theory to extend conversation through creative mediums. Topics of soil regeneration, the mycelial network, seed sovereignty, food security, indigenous/traditional knowledge systems, and eco-socialist alternatives are part of a network of exchange. Physical embodiment of these topics includes the practice of composting as a means of carbon sequestration, which contributes to the remediation of climate change. This engagement with the material energy of compost reveals the entanglements of plant, soil, and human energy. The collective uses publications as a medium of dissemination and a material form that engages audiences through written and visual exploration. The duo aims to share and encourage conversations through the conceptual framing of their collective praxis.