Carmen Wong is a curiously hungry migrant artist from Singapore+USA, whose work often experiments with embodiment, deep listening and food for convivial collectivism. They are a co-animator of JarSquad, an on-going social art project growing a solidarity economy of communally made jam and preserves that cannot be transacted with money. They grounds-keep the (at-present-fallowing) care-as-commons reading group to contemplate on practices of care in institutions. Carmen is an ever-beginner in qi-going, and growing a practice in healing justice via nonviolent communication.

Carmen collaborated with Dr Clemence Scalbert Yucel from The Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies on the Streatham campus in Exeter. Together they creatively explored Clemence's research into Kurdish migration, belonging, and food citizenship in Devon.

Very little is known on the history of the Kurdish migration or on the ways Kurdish migrants have made Devon their home. This multidisciplinary projectlooked further into how, through food-related practices such as purchasing, growing, importing, foraging, sharing, running a restaurant, residents of Kurdish descent may develop a home and a sense of belonging in Devon and the UK while maintaining relations with their home countries.

Interactive Pickle-Making Workshops

On Sunday 1st June 2025, Carmen and Clemence hosted a pickle-making workshop with members of the Kurdish community at Exeter Community Centre, as part of an exploration into creative, participatory research methods. The workshop provided a space for participants to connect, share, and reflect on Kurdish identity and the migration of food cultures in Devon. Alongside making pickles, participants engaged in a creative mapping activity, where they shared personal stories and experiences of Kurdish food in the region.

The pair ran a follow-up event in Plymouth on Sunday 27 July 2025, bringing together members of the Kurdish community alongside participants from other nationalities. The gathering created a vibrant space for people to connect, share food stories, and explore questions of identity, migration, and belonging through pickle-making and conversation.

Exeter Respect Festival

Following the first pickle-making workshop, Carmen and Clémence joined the Kurdish Community Devon stall at Exeter Respect Festival. There they shared some of the pickles they had made during the workshops and also continued with their creative mapping activity with the members of the wider Kurdish community in Devon. This provided another opportunity for Clémence and Carmen to make further connections with the community and deepen their understanding of creative participatory research methods.

The series of pickle making workshops opened up new participatory research methods for Clemence, using the act of preparing and creating food together as way of engaging participants in collective conversation. Running a workshop in Plymouth where Carmen is based, also introduced Clemence to new Kurdish communities in Devon with whom she hopes to continue working with in the future.

About the Creative Fellowships

Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships offer creative practitioners the opportunity to engage with innovative academics and professional services staff across the University of Exeter’s colleges and campuses. The Creative Fellowships are designed to benefit both the Creative Fellow and the host, providing inspiration for new approaches to creative practice and generating fledgling ideas that could be the springboard for future initiatives.