Growing in Sankofa
Summer 2021Providence, RI
RISD Maharam Fellowship at Sankofa Initative
Maharam Blog , Mosaic Podcast
The Maharam Fellowship places artists and designers in non-profits that work towards social and ecological justice. Sankofa is a non-profit food justice organization in the West End of Providence that manages a community garden and Farmer’s Market specifically for refugees and immigrants (often West-African and East Asian) to grow, sell, and share culturally specific produce to their communities.
During my time, I built relationships with growers by helping them with everyday tasks. Through getting to know them, I began to observe spatial and social dynamics, and patterns of needs. In addition, I worked closely with the Farmer’s Market vendors and Sankofa’s project manager.
There was a common frustration with produce being stolen in the gardens. The growers predominantly speak their native language and are english-learners, so miscommunication and general distance between growers occurs in the garden space. However, I was inspired the camraderie I saw at the weekly Farmer’s market.
Regardless of cultural differences, vendors would be helping each other set up, teasing one another, and dancing to music. The garden as is, did not encourage community; as it had individual plots and no common time of gathering. I understood the issue of stealing to be rather a strategy and planning nonalignment.
To end my summer, I created a sign that encourages growers to share knowledge instead of stealing by representing the stories that were shared with me. The image above shows the finished illustration and placement in the main Sankofa garden.
The sign to the left was a response to another need I heard from an alternate Sankofa garden space. The water hose tap inside the shed often leaks leading to light flooding when growers turn off the hose incorrectly. Similar to the first sign, I illustrated the story to show growers not only the best practice, but why.
In addition, the old market sign was wearing down, and I was asked to repaint it with essential information. I took this opportunity to paint the many growers I had met and I saw as bringing life to the gardens and market. Throughout the selling season, the sign remains on the lawn of the Providence Public Library where the market takes place.
The Public’s Radio: Mosaic
Mosaic, a podcast capturing immigrant stories in RI, asked me to share my journey at Sankofa and with studying Architecture in Providence. This is part of their community essay series.
Maharam Blogs
To learn more about my experience during the fellowship, feel free to view my blog posts throughout the summer.
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