The Waiting List book is available to buy from
@antennebooks !
£10. Designed by Julia Utreras
@pressed.for . Edition of 350. 102 pages. Litho printed on Munken paper at Hollywell Press, Oxford. Soft cover and section sewn binding.
Each copy had an individually made seedpaper belly band wrap. Made from the same seeds - Sunflower and Rye – and in same way as the original project. You can choose to bury and grow the paper or not! Images here of Sam from
@fig_studio making the wraps.
The original Waiting Project list project, which the book documents, was an innovative work of art/activism by Dr JC Niala, Julia Utreras and Sam Skinner, working in collaboration with
@greenpeaceuk , which explored access to allotments, land justice and food sovereignty.
The publication includes: new poems by
@jcniala ; unseen data and documentation; creative reflections on the project by
@hannah_davey ,
@harunishere ,
@mary.jane.edwards , kaylenealder; photos by
@edalziel ; and illustrations by
@moeritherium .
The project transformed data from a nationwide survey on the number of people on allotment waiting lists in the UK - over 170,000 - into a huge allotment-sized artwork made of seed paper. The artwork was first presented in London in 2023, as a collective demand for more allotments. Enacting en-masse a right enshrined in the 1908 Allotment Act: if 6 or more people demand an allotment the government is duty bound to act.
The artwork then travelled to Liverpool where it was ‘dug-in’ to land owned by supermarket giant Tesco. An area the size of a standard ‘10 pole’ allotment plot was laid with the seed paper sewn with blocks of Clover, Fescue, Mustard, Rye and Sunflower, to support phytoremediation of the land and act as green manure, before being covered in 4 tonnes of compost. The project received nationwide attention and was featured in national newspapers, on radio, TV, and online.
Further details: www.fig.studio
Photos by
@tom_andrew_ 
