It Feels Like Going Back Home
Acrylic ink, watercolour, silk dye scans and digital collage (2026)
A billboard commission from Bethnal Green Nature Reserve.
‘It Feels Like Going Back Home’ explores the act of growing food and flowers as a bridge between the UK landscape and our cultural origins. Yet climate change is increasingly jeopardising this connection. If traditional crops can no longer thrive in shifting temperatures, what happens to the cultural identities woven through them? Food is central to culture; but what becomes of that culture if these foods can no longer be cultivated?
The title comes from a plot holder at Bethnal Green Ecology Garden. As an allotment owner herself, who cultivates produce tied to her Jamaican heritage, Ashman spoke with local growers about their relationship to the soil, the emotions they experience while tending their plots and the traditional recipes they prepare with their produce. She was particularly drawn to how plants are named in the growers' first languages, and how cultivation serves as a living link to 'back home'. The community also shared a grounded awareness of climate realities, having witnessed extreme weather impact their individual plots.
The BGNR billboard commissions are a series of large-scale billboard artworks installed within the Nature Reserve, engaging a wide and diverse public audience in conversations around climate change and climate adaptation.
With Just A Little Effort, Anything Is Possible
Audio interviews, guitar, electronic music composition (9 mins 34 secs, 2026)
‘With Just A Little Effort, Anything Is Possible’ is the soundscape that accompanies ‘It Feels Like Going Back Home’ made up from interviews with the growers at the Bethnal Green Ecology Garden.
The piece offers a sonic exploration of what is in the growers plots and what cultural dishes (spanning Bangladesh, Nigeria, USA, Spain and the UK) are made from their own home-grown produce. The soundscape celebrates the magic of tending land and how horticulture connects to cultural heritage.
This work is part also part of the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve billboard commission, where the soundscape is designed to be listened to whilst viewing the artwork.
‘With Just A Little Effort, Anything Is Possible’ features the voices of Sabia Khatun, Selina Akter, Zoe William, Sanzida Sultana, Hector Cuest, Grace Ihenacho, Rose Asaf and Ash Miah. Thank you for your time, wisdom, and wonderful energy.
Music by Jessica Ashman
Interviews recorded at Bethnal Green Ecology Garden on Saturday June 27th, 2026.