Residency
Born out of a year-long ethnographic study on food systems and nature-based living, Unheard, Unseen was a slow, intentional rural residency in collaboration with Freebirds.co. Designed as an immersive learning program, it invited professionals, creatives, and curious minds to leave behind the rhythm of urban life and step into a deeper dialogue with rural communities.
Rather than observe from the outside, participants lived alongside, listened, cooked, walked, and learned within. The aim was not to extract knowledge, but to relearn ways of being—through food practices, daily rhythms, collective labour, and the act of sustained attention.
Unheard, Unseen was rooted in a radical framework of experiential pedagogy:
- We learn by speculating through lived reality, not theory
- We stretch beyond certainty to engage with the unknown
- We practice perceptiveness, emotional flexibility, and embodied observation
The environment—natural, seasonal, and spatial—wasn’t a backdrop but the curriculum itself. Time slowed. Senses sharpened. In this stillness, participants noticed the quiet details: a grandmother’s hand movements while cleaning rice, the rhythm of firewood catching flame, the invisible systems behind daily meals.
Through facilitated reflection circles, collective cooking, and dialogue, the program invited questions such as:
- What counts as knowledge in a rural context?
- Can humility and unlearning be part of a creative practice?
- What are the unseen forces—social, ecological, emotional—that shape how we live and eat?
In a world obsessed with speed and output, Unheard, Unseen became a temporary pause. A place where love, empathy, and rigour weren’t afterthoughts—but the very foundation of learning. A space where creative enquiry wasn’t a task, but a way of living.
What happens when we stop looking for answers, and start noticing the questions life asks us every day?
