As part of the Peckham Experiment project the Art Assassins and artist Nina Cristante worked together to consider how what we eat relates to our social identity. Together they discussed how diet and health have not only been turned into a product to be sold, but how it has also been used as a political act of resistance and empowerment.
Whilst camping at the Wilderness Wood they produced Tender, Love and Care, a medical drama set in a forest. In the film a group of young doctors have developed new innovative techniques to heal the body and the mind of their selected patients. Alongside allopathic and holistic medicine, the procedures include reenactment and ritualistic performances. Soon the research’s objective is lost revealing a fine line between sanity and insanity, doctors and patients, and health and sickness.
Cristante and the Art Assassins’ work together stemmed from their research into the Peckham Experiment which pioneered the use of diet to promote good health and whose staff went on to found the Soil Association as well as drawing on Cristante’s own artistic practice and her work as a ‘autodidactic nutritionist’.
Art Assassins are a group of young beings aged between 14-20 years old who meet every Tuesday at the South London Gallery. To find out more about the Art Assassins click here.
Nina Cristante’s practice reflects on control, sanity, sickness, identity, and drama. Her work is choreographic, engaging directly with movies’ narratives and character development. It often takes the form of durational performances, videos and installations.
Situated in Hadlow Down, East Sussex, The Wilderness Wood includes 62 acres of chestnut coppice with stands of beech, scots pine, douglas, cedar and giant sequoia, as well as a cafe, a workshop, a home, a kitchen garden, a marquee, and camping shelters. A community of members of all ages contribute their skills, knowledge and energy to stewarding and enjoying the woodland.
Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Still from Tender Love and Care by the Art Assassins and Nina Cristante
Still from Tender Love and Care by the Art Assassins and Nina Cristante
