nikki hafter
network artist
With the majority of services forced to move online during the pandemic, the CARAS Youth Garden Project created space for some of CARAS most marginalised young members to safely meet face-to-face outdoors. Weekly sessions ran for a year at Tooting Community Garden from 2020-2021, where young refugees and asylum-seekers could engage with their local community through facilitated volunteering and skill development. Activities include gardening, carpentry, fire-building, cooking, arts and nature connection. The project was co-facilitated by Transition Town Tooting members Nikki Hafter and Dermot Jones, alongside the CARAS Youth Team.
The relationship between community and the environment is integral to Nikki’s practice. She grew up attending Forest School Camps, which teaches ‘responsibility for each other within a small community close to nature’. She became involved with community sustainability group Transition Town Tooting in 2017, and worked on several projects in the TTT Community Garden and beyond.