Fertile Grounds was founded in 2016 by Alexandra Sazonova and Chloe Ting as an artist-run initiative that creates art projects to increase the understanding of untapped and undervalued territories.
They weave connections between people, ideas and movements in order to tell stories. Currently they are exploring concepts of cohabitation, questioning humankind within ecosystems and how to better care for and love the Earth.
Fields of natural sciences, anthropology and language studies are often involved in their work to question our shared values, knowledge and existence.
Fertile Grounds multi-strand projects range in artistic formats: residencies, exhibitions, panel discussions
and festivals.
Collectively and individually they exhibited and participated in residencies in the UK and internationally including Hoxton Docks, Protein Studios, Rich Mix, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, Chinese Centre for Contemporary Art (CFCCA) in Manchester and Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava and Koidu in Estonia. They have given artist talks at University of the Arts London, City University of London, General Assembly and more.
Alex has an MA in Culture, Criticism and Curation from Central Saint Martins and a BA in Performance and History of Art, Design and Film from Kingston University. She works as an artist and curator; she is interested in blurring boundaries between fields of expertise and practices. Her work revolves around art as research; she believes that art is a language that can speak to audiences emotionally, mentally and spiritually in order to affect change. Art for her is a space to pause, reflect and exchange on where we are going as a people, and to engage in important discussions that affect us all.
Chloe has an MA in Culture Criticism and Curation from Central Saint Martins and a BA in Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has worked as project manager and producer in art, design and publishing fields in Hong Kong and London at Pentagram Design, Asia Art Archive, Black Dog Publishing & Artifice Books on Architecture. She believes that artists are people who know how to play and navigate through complexity and with that holds a lot of power to mould and infiltrate cultural consensus. Her work has always been rooted in using art to understand and shape the way we live in the world.