Falmouth Illustration Student Collaboration

In December 2024 work began on a new collaboration between illustration students at Falmouth University and the Food Lives team in Tower Hamlets. Elaine Swan, FoodSEqual team member at Sussex University, was inspired by an exhibition she had seen of the students’ work (from comics to tarot cards) based on their research with people from the fishing industry in Newlyn.

After initial meetings with tutor, Linda Scott, and the students, 5 illustrators were selected to participate. Elaine explains ‘My aim was to see how the students visualised British Bangladeshi residents and their food in Tower Hamlets. I wasn't sure exactly what would come out of it. In the Food Lives team we often use methods where we're not exactly sure what we will learn or discover. In some ways that's what research is about…I knew the students would create artwork that would tell us things in pictures that we couldn't put into words.’

A 2-day visit was arranged for the 9th and 10th of December for Linda and students Anna, Alice, Niamh, Jess and Jess, to come and see the local markets and to attend a cookery workshop with British Bangladeshi women from the Tarling East Community Centre in Shadwell.

“I knew the students would create artwork that would tell us things in pictures that we couldn't put into words..”

Whitechapel Market

The visit began with an introduction to Whitechapel Market guided by Community Researchers (CRs) Sajna Miah and Shazna Hussain. Shazna explains that by 4pm ‘it was quite dark, very cold and busy with late shoppers, children going home from school with parents shopping on their way home.’

Sajna describes how ‘The students stood and made some sketches of the vegetables and fruits. They were curious and asked many questions about vegetables they had never seen before. They picked up hyacinth beans, Bangladeshi water chestnut and flacourtia fruit.’ The students commented on the busyness of the market and that they’d forgotten how isolated they were in Falmouth, explaining that there weren't markets like this with such a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Reflecting on the experience later, student Jess Underwood shares that ‘It felt like a real privilege to be able to be able to go into these markets and community spaces and have the women leading the research project informing and teaching us so much about their backgrounds and cooking practices and heritage.’

“It felt like a real privilege to be able to go into these markets and community spaces and have the women leading the research project informing and teaching us so much about their backgrounds and cooking practices and heritage.”

Shazna points out that she and Sajna had built a rapport with some of the market stallholders and shopkeepers during their recent interviews: ‘Building this relationship with the stallholders and shopkeepers has really helped us in our research work...they don't feel intimidated or threatened when we approach them with our visitors.’

In addition to looking around the stalls, the CRs took the group to some of the shops that throng the market - Grameen Bazaar, Mas Bazaar, where they saw fish being cut to order, Shobji Bazaar, where the students were interested in the big jackfruit and the paan, and the Indian sweet shop, where the CRs told them about the different sweets and what occasions they are purchased for. The students sketched and took photos of what they saw.

The Food Lives team and the Falmouth group had supper together at Feast and Mishti, a buffet restaurant serving Bangladeshi halal and vegetarian food. Sajna and Shazna gave guidance explaining what the dishes were and warning that borthas are spicy. Shazna observes that the students ‘looked like they really enjoyed the food and didn’t seem uncomfortable at all...The environment, atmosphere, culture, diversity, food, are all different to what they are used to.’

Tarling East Community Centre

The Tarling Centre hosts a women’s community group that meets on a Tuesday morning to cook and eat together followed by sewing classes in the afternoon. Shazna had approached the organiser, Jasmin, to see if they’d be willing to lead a cooking workshop to demonstrate their cooking skills to our Falmouth art students. Three British Bangladeshi women had volunteered to take part.

Chairs were placed by the counter overlooking the kitchen so the students would have a good view. The women brought some large pots in with meat that they had pre-cooked to save time and got busy arranging their ingredients on the counter. The students sat down and got out their art equipment: pots of ink, fine brushes, notepads, pens, pencils.

The women offered everyone a warming ginger masala chai drink and added cinnamon sticks, cardamom, sugar and milk. We ran through the ethics with everyone, the women didn’t want their faces captured in the artwork, so Linda advised the students that they could draw the shape of the face without features. This made Shazna think about the advantage of artwork over photography, ‘you can eliminate the details you don’t want to show whereas a camera will capture everything.’

The women were going to make traditional Bangladeshi rice flour dumplings and rice flour roti which are eaten with beef or lamb curry. These are often eaten during the second Eid, Eid-Ul-Adha after the sacrifice of an animal.

“These sketches bring out so much about the embodied nature of their cooking and the emotional connection amongst the women in ways words can’t.”

One of the women had prepared fish-shaped pastries. They were filled with egg omelette and had black peppercorns for eyes.

The rotis and dumplings were made on the counter in front of the students, preparing and kneading the dough and rolling it out. The dumplings were steamed, and the rotis were dry-fried (so the pastry wouldn’t absorb too much oil) and then brought out for everyone to try.

The students took turns to go into the kitchen to look in the pots and ask questions. The women offered us Falooda, a milk drink made with rose syrup and basil seeds.

The women from the Tarling community group were extremely generous with their time and with sharing their delicious food and cooking skills with us. They also showed an interest in participating in some of our upcoming research.

Watney Market

We took the students to Watney Market, time was limited so they took photos rather than sketching. We went to Priyo Bazaar, where the owner, Mr Lutfur Rahman, has been very generous towards us and our research. One of the students wanted to try making the gulabjaman that she had eaten at the restaurant the night before and bought a spice mix for this. Mr Rahman insisted on buying us all masala chai at a cafe in the market run by a Bangladeshi Italian man.

We finished the visit with lunch at Ruyam Turkish restaurant. Over lunch we spoke more about our research methods and the students talked about the small towns they were from and how they didn’t have many restaurant options. We also had a conversation about oils and fats and went on to talk about Bangladeshi culture and Islam.

Outcome

Sajna explains that she really enjoyed hosting the students, ‘it was a great pleasure to show them around’ and introduce them to ‘my own heritage that makes up Tower Hamlets.’ Shazna thinks that the women at the Tarling Centre are excited to see the outcome ‘because they have never been drawn or been involved in something like this before.’

Student, Niamh Shannon, reflects that ‘My illustration work has been strongly influenced by the sense of camaraderie felt in the kitchen when observing the group of Bangladeshi women cook, and furthermore by research into Bengali and Bangladeshi artforms like tapestry and quilting. I think a lot of the research and work I have gained from this opportunity and project will stick with me throughout my practice.' While Jess Underwood thinks that ‘the trip advised me a lot on ethical practices and cultural understanding, how to navigate these topics in a respectful manner and in a way which really illuminates everyone's different lived experience and background.’

“My illustration work has been strongly influenced by the sense of camaraderie felt in the kitchen when observing the group of Bangladeshi women cook, and furthermore by research into Bengali and Bangladeshi artforms like tapestry and quilting. I think a lot of the research and work I have gained from this opportunity and project will stick with me throughout my practice.”

When asked about the unexpected outcomes from the visit Elaine notes that ‘the illustration students weren’t the only artists making creative work...The women pulled out all the stops creating beautiful food including some exquisite pastry fish with peppercorn eyes.’ She describes the collaboration as ‘such an unusual encounter between young students from Falmouth and older British Bangladeshi women...this wasn’t just an inter-cultural or inter-racial encounter but also inter-generational.’

Importantly, this collaboration will benefit our research and its impact. Elaine says, ‘These sketches bring out so much about the embodied nature of their cooking and the emotional connection amongst the women in ways words can’t. Our own participation in the cooking workshop reinforced our understanding of women’s expertise and creativity in their domestic foodwork.’