Growing Roots: An Ecology of Here is a creative research project and exhibition that spawned from the summer 2023 Co-LAB program. In collaboration with the CAC’s Ecologies of Elsewhere exhibition, the Co-LAB summer series worked with BIPOC artists, farmers, and gardeners in the community to provide learning resources, teach-ins, and conversations about growing practices and our relationships with nature. In addition to our Backyard Garden visits, Curatorial Fellow Malik Wilkins and Community & Adult Programs Manager Pedal Miranda interviewed several farmers to learn about their motivations, challenges, and hopes for their collaborations with plant-life. The resulting installation includes a film, photographs, as well as some original artwork inspired by the process. Questions of collective care and community resiliency are sewn alongside the exploration of what it means to nourish oneself in community.

We would like to thank the following collaborators:

• Celeste Treece, CommEN Strategies & the Heights Movement
• Emmanuel Floyd, Jackson Street Produce Market by the Heights Movement
• Shannon Carr, Isaiah 55 Inc.
• Marco, Chandler St. Garden in Madisonville through Brick Gardens
• Obalaye and Yemarishet Macharia, 144 Farm ·
• Dr. Chandra Frank, home herb garden tender
• Kymisha Montgomery, the Civic Garden Center
• Julia Orquera Bianco, Jardin del Sol
• Sharon Mithu, the Village Green Foundation Greenhouse at MoBo.
• Sierra the Farmer

Curated by

Pedal Miranda
Malik Wilkins

Supported by