Meet Alejandra, one of our Action for Local Food Ambassadors
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what made you want to get involved as an ambassador?
Hello! My name is Alejandra Gissler and I’m a dancer based in London. I was born in Colombia and I came to the UK to study Contemporary Dance at The Place in 2016. At the beginning of 2021, I was writing my Masters dissertation which looked at the relation between moving images and embodied experiences of feminist futures. While I was working on it, I became very interested in subjects different to my artistic practice; I got passionate about cinema, I started painting with watercolours, and most importantly, I had a revelation with plants, as probably many of us did. They became my dear companions! Consequently, I developed a huge interest in community gardens and urban agriculture. Later on, I realised the connection between community spaces and my research topic of different (fairer and better) futures. I also think I reconnected with my youngest self’s interest in ecology and environmental action. I then found the Local Food Ambassador program by chance, as I was looking for further training opportunities from Islington Council. I wanted to start from the basics, developing some skills as a gardener and getting to know about community projects around me. Although I thought the program would simply offer me this training, I ended up being fascinated by the wider field of food growing, urban agriculture and land use/property.
What have you got out of the programme?
First of all, I think this programme really opened up a whole new world to me. It showed me how broad and relevant the discussion around food systems is, as well as, how valuable individual and community initiatives are to tackle the climate and humanitarian crisis. The training from the program was very practical, so it allowed me learn by doing, and I certainly got a lot of inspiration from engaging my body in a different activity. I found out about the incredible network of community gardens in London, which I am still planning on visiting with a friend. Last but not least, I had the most enriching intergenerational experience where I met amazing people working on exciting community projects.
Have you been able to put any learning from the programme into practise, or share any skills you've developed with others?
I've been able to try out things that I've learned in the course, in my own house and with my closest friends. We've done a lot of work in our garden and last year we experimented with some crops, from which we've learned a lot - just by doing. I’ve also volunteered in some of the demonstration sites such as the Tufnell Park Plant Nursery, and at another Ambassador’s site at Girdlestone Estate. I think I've also spread my interest for gardens and community spaces with other dancers and artists. Notably, with my friends and collaborators with whom we’ve founded the Dance Cooperative. One of our purposes is to keep integrating garden spaces in our creative work.
What would be your 'do one thing' message to encourage others to take action for a local, climate-friendly food system?
Compost! Find a way to process and deal with your own organic waste. It will also make you reflect on what you eat, how much plastic you use, and in general, where your food is coming from... Also (sorry), I think it’s very important to get interested in the subject of food as a whole - from consumption, production, wider systems etc. Starting by reading more, experimenting more in your own household and get together with the community to develop wider projects. By getting interested in this subject, one starts to slowly understand the importance of food in the ecological transformation as we move onto fairer and hopefully feminist futures!
Has being an ambassador inspired you to take action on climate change in other ways?
Being an ambassador has inspired me to integrate ecology, community action and gardening practices into my creative practice as a dancer. It made me realise of the value and relevance of finding collective ways to live better and to develop as a community. I want to keep researching the relation between gardening practices and garden spaces, with dance and movement. I believe their link is in both participating in generating experiences of better worlds in our bodies!