On Foraging by 421

On Foraging: Food Knowledge and Environmental Imaginaries in the UAE’s Landscape is a 200-page book that was published alongside the large-scale group exhibition of the same title that was first presented at the UAE Pavilion during Expo 2020. A second edition of the book, which includes additional research and new commissions, was published for the second iteration of the exhibition which opened for wider public viewing at 421 in Abu Dhabi from October 9 to December 31, 2022. Presenting reserves of cultural and agricultural knowledge that have been passed down through generations and that continues until today, the exhibition reveals the work that goes into unearthing the landscape through a confluence of personal and collective narratives, and ultimately calls for historical food knowledge to be brought forward, reexamined, and rediscovered. 

Edited by curators Dima Srouji, Faysal Tabbarah, and Meitha Almazrooei, the publication features research, interviews, personal reflections, and narratives that expand on the ideas presented and explored in the exhibition. It includes interviews with central figures in the UAE such as Her Excellency Mariam Bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, UAE Minister of State for Food and Water Security, and  Mohammed Jouan Al Dhaheri, Chairman of the Board of The Farms, who shed light on the ways in which public and private entities can collaborate to tackle food security issues. Dr. Alamira Reem Bani Hashem interviews Dr. Merle Jensen, Professor Emeritus of Plant Life Sciences at the University of Arizona, who worked on experimental agriculture projects in Abu Dhabi in the 1960s. Other contributors are Fatema Al Mulla; Dr. Majid Al Qasimi, Greg Ohannessian, and Alpha Kennedy;  Auguste Nomeikaite, Ali Karimi and Hamed Bukhamseen; Todd Reisz; Dalal Musaed Al-Sayer; Sundar Raman; Mays Al Baik; and Deepak Unnikrishnan. 

The exhibition featured works by 14 UAE-based and regional artists including: Auguste Nomeikaite, Eileen Vazquez, Paola Sakr, Reem Falaknaz, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Ammar Al Attar, Abdullah Al Saadi, Abir Mnasria and Zaina Khayyat, Vikram Divecha, Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Moza Almatrooshi, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Nujoom Al Ghanem, Nahla Tabbaa.