Mirrors of Happiness

2021 –

In spring 2021, I joined the re-entry program through the arts at Planting Justice, an urban farm and nursery in Sobrante Park, the easternmost area of Oakland, CA.
My role is collaborating with individuals to create art. We began by using the abundant flora in the nursery to produce cyanotype photography prints. With the guidance of my fellow instructor, Kate DeCiccio, participants explored the stencil art. Finally, we combined our efforts to create a mural adorned with portraits of each participant.
My camera captured people working in the nursery and surroundings throughout the project. The resulting images unveiled a tapestry of artistic representation—people and places directly captured throughout the process, cyanotype prints emerging from images, stencil cutouts shaping familiar faces, painted renditions born from those stencils, and moments where individuals encountered their own portraits in wood.

Read the entire statement

See the installation shots in MIMOCA Museum, Kagawa, Japan

Adela and Yenni, grafting Russian mulberries.
Victor’s face through the stencil.
Covvone, breathing.
Covvone’s face in his hand.
Rachel, reading a poem.
Blue through Rachel.
Rigo’s canvas.
PJ skin tone chart.
Simone in layers.
Simon’s self-dialogue.
Sunflowers behind the office.
Simone closeup.
Obi, fertilizing.
There is no better feeling than restoring our community.
Red nursery cart.
David, tagging White Flower Pomegranates.
Planting Justice sign in the nursery.
JR’s glimpse.
Thomas with himself.
Green community.
Rachel’s self-embrace.
Shipping team.
Julia in green.
Pink chair with leafy shadows.
Malaya and Victory, screen printing on a flag.
Shading blooms.
Grow Plants Not Prisons.
Mike, standing against the fence.
The Union Pacific railroad behind Planting Justice.

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