SOIL: Common Ground is a three-part podcast series produced by Somerset House exploring what soil can teach us about being human, through the lens of art.

Our Future is tied to the future of our soil. Our decisions as to how we care for and use it matter. Soil teaches us that cycles are ongoing, and even in decline every day offers us opportunities for new beginnings. In this final episode Shenece Oretha explores the regenerative qualities of soil and composting as a model for personal redemption.

We hear from Palestinian grower Mohammed Saleh whose life story offers a personal story of hope, looking at how permaculture and art can help to heal the destructive impacts of war. Somerset Studios artist Harun Morrision’s singing compost invites us to see decay in a new light and Fin Jordâo lays out how composting can be a radical action for rethinking our relationships with each other and the planet.

Does the future hold a closer, more natural relationship with the soil by rethinking our relationship to burial? Radical undertaker Ru Callander reconsiders our attitude to death.

The series launches off from the Somerset House exhibition SOIL: The World at Our Feet.

Presented by Shenece Oretha

Produced by Jo Barratt and Alannah Chance

Exec produced by Alannah Chance and Eleanor Ritter-Scott.

The series is mixed by Mike Woolley

Original music by Andrew Pekler.

This series is part of the Somerset House Podcast.