I was travelling to London to visit an old friend for their birthday. Which gave me a good opportunity to visit my jigsaw in The London Science Museum. The jigsaw, commissioned by Propagate in 2022 shows a scene of a brightly coloured agroecological countryside, full of plants, trees, fields, livestock, wild animals, sheds, compost, water sources, renewable energy resources, and productive people working and belonging to the land.

I was invited to join the first of the Farm to Fork dialogues, which evolved into the very constructive Regenerative Farmers Network where farmers visit each others’ sites offering advice and support for one another as they move from industrial farming practises into more regenerative, nature-led ways of working. My role was to catalogue the discussions, insights and exchanges to then create a vision which would capture their learning and produce an image of what our landscapes could like ‘in 2045, all going well…’

I was working and living on site at East Coast Organics at the time, an organic farm and veg box delivery service in East Lothian. Which meant I had lots of inspiration for regenerative healthy food systems around me. Lots of the people in the jigsaw puzzle are from photos I took of my friends there.

There are 6 jigsaw puzzles in total which now go on tour with fellow Propagators to food fairs, school visits and community open days. Quite large, about 60cm by 90cm, the jigsaw puzzle is 35 pieces. It is used as a conversational tool, as people jigsaw the pieces together we ask them ‘what they see’ and ‘what do you think we need to create a health food system’. The Science Museum were very set on having the first jigsaw puzzle which had been used at COP26. Now slightly mud splashed, it’s been well used and has found a good home in the museum archives.

The Future of Food exhibition is on till September this year 2026. With lots of interesting contributions and insights into our food systems, it’s worth a visit.

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/future-of-food

I have always been an environmental artist, but after this commission and my introduction to Propagate, I learnt how important fixing the food system is for us surviving in our current, beautiful, extraordinary eco-system. I now dedicate my life to this; working as a food and land orientated community artist, illustrator and fully-fledged Propagate member.

Emily @ we agree on eggs @ Propagate