Solitary Gardens at Planting Justice
A collaboration with jackie sumell, solitary gardeners Loi Voy and Yolanda Harden and the Re-Entry Team at Planting Justice.
An extension of over 12 years of abolitionist collaboration between jackie sumell and Herman Wallace, Solitary Gardens act as lifelines between incarcerated people nationwide and community members who tend their gardens. Conceived as illustrations of the crumbling prison system, overtaken by life, jackie sumell leads community members to create revolutionary mortar, poured into the footprint of the exact blueprint of a solitary cell. At Planting Justice, she worked with the Re-Entry team to add shreds of CA prison uniforms, pointing to the forced labor of CA prison industries. Through the work of Sol Mercado, who has been planting freedom gardens honoring victims of violence, she invited Yolanda Harden at CCWF and Loi Voy at San Quentin to be the solitary gardeners.
After the jackie and the Re-entry team poured and gardens planted with medicinal and food producing plants chosen by Yolanda and Voi, I had the opportunity to go a little deeper with Yolanda and Voi. Through a series of conversations about their hopes for the impact of their gardens, we landed on the messaging and additional imagery they wanted to see hugging their gardens.
Yolanda chose a butterfly and ladybug representing her mom’s nicknames for her and her sister. She asked that tulips and lilies framed her reflections about using life now to focus on repair and her clarity on the full breath of the people she had harmed.
Loi shared about a tiny weed that used to grow in the floor crack of his cell when he was on death row, the only living thing he was able to touch for 29 years. His text reflects his lifelong commitment to live in gratitude for how his victims family advocated for his resentencing. For Loi, hummingbirds carry the miracle of hope and life from garden to garden and visit him at San Quentin frequently.
Yolanda Harden's Solitary Garden
Dandelion weed creeping through cement representing the 1 living thing Loi Voy was able to touch during his 29 years on death row.
Yolanda Harden and Loi Voy's Solitary Gardens at the Planting Justice Farmstore in El Sobrante, CA.
Text from Yolanda Harden about being accountable to the many people for whom she caused harm.
Loi Voy’s Solitary Garden at the Planting Justice Farmstore in El Sobrante, CA.
