The Tucker Street Community Garden in Trenton, NJ is an incredible place and one of many community gardens in the city. They are supported by Isles, Inc. A non-profit that does amazing work in our community. Their webpage says, “The Tucker Street Garden is a valuable resource for the community to gain access to fresh food and learn about gardening and environmental stewardship. The half-acre garden serves as a demonstration, production, and training site for gardeners of all skill levels.”

This project was started in January, 2020. That year I placed my homemade pinhole cameras in Isles, inc.’s Wood Street Garden, The Roberto Clemente Park Children’s Garden, and the Tucker Street Garden. I started by creating images through the winter months to capture the gardens without vegetation - documenting the area. When spring came and the gardeners began planting I put more cameras up at the Tucker Street location: in the raised beds, under the fig tree, near the tomato cages, around the perimeter of the garden and even on a roof overlooking it! I left the cameras up for the entire summer to capture the growth of the veggies and flowers over a 5 month period.

2020 Gallery

In May 2021 I continued the project by placing cameras near the ground, close to the crops to capture their growth. The exposures will be much shorter - one week periods - so that the growth will be more visible in the photographs.

2021 Gallery

2022 Gallery

STATEMENT: I am fascinated by the resiliency of plants and love to watch them change and grow. I once watched my uncle accidentally trample and kill a fern I had planted in the garden by my front porch. I was heartbroken, but within a couple weeks a new fern grew in its place - the same plant, overcoming literal death. I’ve been inspired and mesmerized with plants ever since! As a child I was in awe of the beauty of nature and formed an intimate relationship with the wildflowers and plants on my property. This has transformed into an interest in house plants and gardens as an adult. I spend so much time tending to my plants, watching them grow, cutting them and watching them continue to prosper. Their resiliency is inspiring, and grounded me through all of the changes in the year 2020. I often thought of that trampled fern and manifested its resilient energy.

In 2020 I started a long term project at the Tucker Street Community Garden in Trenton NJ, and dedicated my time to documenting the growth and resiliency of the plants in their garden. Each photograph was created in a homemade pinhole camera that I placed in the garden and left to expose for many months to capture growth. The months-long exposures allow you to see the sun streaking through the sky every day over the plants growing in the hoop house, raised beds, and planters at the garden. The blurred areas throughout the images are the visible growth of the plants. Each photograph tells the story of the resiliency of plants, and is a documentation of the hard work of the gardeners at the community garden and the beautiful plants they’ve cultivated.

In 2021 this project transitioned into shorter exposures of 1 or 2 weeks taken at much closer distances to focus on the growth of specific plants. The cameras are changed out week after week to capture the growth in many stages. By changing the length in time the images are less abstract and tell a more visible story of growth.

PROCESS: I hand made pinhole cameras and put darkroom photo paper inside as my photographic emulsion. I carefully placed each camera within the community garden and left it there to expose for weeks or months. After retrieving the camera the negative is removed from the camera and scanned onto my computer to be processed.

MATERIALS: Homemade pinhole cameras, various darkroom photo papers, scanner. Giclee prints on fine art photo paper.

DIMENSIONS: Varied.

CREATION DATE: 2020 - 2022

EXHIBITIONS:

2021 Resist Convenience, JKC Gallery, Trenton, NJ (Solo)

2021 Still Resisting [Convenience], Romano Gallery, Blairstown, NJ (Solo)

Many works were donated to Isles, inc. and are permanently exhibited in their office.