Garden of JOY:
A Community Resilience Installation
The Garden of JOY is an immersive public art project inspired by the four major features of The Joy Project farm: Recognition, Remembering, Reconciliation, and Restoration. Through large-scale abstract sculptures and community-sourced stories of resilience, this installation reflects personal and collective growth.
Each sculpture represents one of these tenets:
Recognition: Honoring the interconnected histories of African Atlantic and Indigenous peoples.
Remembering: Paying tribute to plants and traditions central to diasporic culture.
Reconciliation: Acknowledging the complex relationships between plants, land, and human exploitation, with a focus on reparations.
Restoration: Creating a healing space that fosters the balance of mind, body, and spirit.
Using augmented reality (AR), visitors can interact with the sculptures, unlocking deeper stories and connections to these themes. Public workshops will invite participants to co-create elements, making the installation a shared experience.
Explore the prototype mockups below to see how art, technology, and community come together to create a transformative public space.
[Mockups generated by AI]
Recognition
A spiraling sculpture of intertwined forms, symbolizing the connection between Indigenous and African Atlantic agricultural practices, with engraved symbols representing the Three Sisters method.
Remembering
A semi-abstract tree trunk with branching, circular patterns, representing the ancestral heritage of diasporic plants like okra and cotton, with woven elements signifying stories passed through generations.
Restoration
A circular sculpture of interconnected rings growing outward, adorned with plant-like textures, representing the cycles of healing and balance through nature and community.
Reconciliation
Interlocking coils transitioning from tight, metallic forms to open, organic shapes, symbolizing the historical tension of exploitation and the freedom and healing found through reconciliation.