Radical Roots and the Brackish collective invited non-EU students of the Sandberg Institute and Rietveld Academie to take time off; to nourish themselves, attune to their bodies, and share space with fellow migrant students.

Drawing from the somatic lineages taught in Ecologies of Transformation with Char Kasza, Joy Mariama Smith, and Camille Barton, we offered a series of body-based exercises bringing awareness to the sensations stirred by preparing food, eating together, and caring for our shared table and kitchen.

Using tarhana as our guide, Catalina and Lila, half of the Brackish collective, led us into the ingredients and preparation methods of this fermented soup, often found on iftar tables during Ramadan. We made the dish together, tasting and telling stories as we moved through somatic prompts.

Brackish is a collaborative, interdisciplinary project led by artists and writers Catalina Reyes (CL), Lila Bullen-Smith (ZA), Megan Hadfield (UK), and Toni Brell (DE). Their work traces local histories and memory through the metaphor and movement of water. Through narrative dinners, food tastings, and storytelling, Brackish creates multisensory frames where research comes alive.