Join artist collective Al-Wah’at for a hands-on workshop exploring Sheffield’s relationship to the Mediterranean fig tree, an unusual protagonist of the city's industrial heritage.
Al-Wah’at (Ailo Ribas, Gabriella Demczuk, Areej Ashhab) often work with plants to look closer at the histories and ecologies of places and people. For their four-day artist residency with Arts Catalyst, they chose the fig tree as their companion to unveil stories of the migration of seeds and people as inherent to Sheffield’s industrial heritage.
For years, Sheffield’s steel industry had warmed the local rivers by using river water to cool its machinery and metal, creating microclimates that allowed exotic flora, like wild fig trees, to grow along the urban riverbanks. As fig seeds traveled with people, they began to germinate and lay roots in their new home. Amidst the heavy industrial pollution, they found a way to thrive in an unfamiliar place.
With these ideas in mind, the workshop will use natural materials such as plants, fabric, leaves, and soil to print images and explore alternative mapping methods that will come together into a zine publication. You will be invited to take part in a tactile and sensorial conversation around the movement of seeds, the stories they carry, and their connection to people, guided by your experience of and encounters with the fig tree.
Seeds that Travel: Finding Figs with Al-Wah’at is part of Castlegate Festival 2026 and is the first public activity of La Escuelita, Arts Catalyst’s new programme dedicated to sharing intergenerational migrant knowledges of plants, soils, places, and environments.
This free workshop for all ages is supported by Sheffield City Council, Sheffield BID, Central LAC, Aureos, YOR4GOOD.
Event description by organisers.
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