Almost two years have passed since the Food Citizens? Winter School (January-February 2022), and we asked our school graduates to share their further accomplishments and ongoing projects. Was the Winter School of any help or inspiration for them?

Živilė Miežytė

Živilė Miežytė is currently working at the Vilnius City Museum as a curator of education programs. “This year I have coordinated an amazing project with high school students from one neighbourhood of Vilnius, during which they explored their neighbourhood in different ways and methods, including filming, making photo diaries, collecting interviews, and doing sketches to name a few - that has been absolutely linked with my experience at the winter school. After 8 months of experimenting with all that, we opened a small exhibition at the museum this June and it was a great success! Here are a couple of pictures from the opening.”

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Next, Živilė plans to continue working on projects with participatory approaches. “I can absolutely confirm that the Winter school has had a huge influence on me and my work. Even though I don't use these skills/ideas in the academic context, I think it has also given me the confidence to experiment with different mediums.”

Hanna Wernersson and Simone de Boer

Hanna Wernersson and Simone de Boer continue their individual Ph.D. studies at Gothenburg University, while also exploring various ways of working together with creative methods. Upon returning home from the Winter School, they presented some of their Winter School and subsequent creative and collaborative work to their colleagues and students. “The Winter School has been very helpful for us as it has formed the foundation for the creative collaboration we have been developing since. We are currently working on a multimedia montage combining our individual and collective work/research, in the context of the Multispecies Ethnography and Artistic Methods (MEAM) network founded in 2022. Apart from our collaborative work we continue to explore audio/visual/creative methods in our individual Ph.D. projects.”

Ginevra Montefusco

Ginevra Montefusco, who is wrapping up her project on Gaza Foodways for CAWR* (Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience | Coventry University), has been admitted to the joint Doctoral School of Padua University and Ca' Foscari University of Venice in History, Geography and Anthropology to develop the project “On the margins of urban food systems: critical and visual analysis of food, identity and resistance in Mediterranean cities”. Previously, we reported on her Master’s thesis research in Turin and the interactive documentaries produced in the Italian cities of Turin (Food in the margin) and Bari. “My interest for the visual dimension has been shaped by the Winter School and has enabled innovative and creative ways of looking at the field in my research, which has been highly evaluated as part of my Master’s thesis. Visual skills for mapping and creating a participatory video were also highly appreciated for my internship on agroecology.”

Wishing all of our Winter School graduates all the best for their future plans!