PPRC Photography Project: City Seeds Urban Farm
(A program of Gateway Greening and St. Patrick's Center)
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| Anthony Manning, 2009, Harvest, digital color print, 8 x 10.6 inches |
This Photography Project features images in the life of an urban farm. City Seeds Urban Farm is a unique program that pairs clients from St. Patrick Center with horticulture training from Gateway Greening. Its mission is “to provide job training, therapeutic horticulture, and education for individuals dealing with chronic homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness, and criminal records; increase production and distribution of locally grown fresh food; and serve as a resource for community education, sustainable urban agriculture and food security.” It is an innovative idea that provides solutions to the myriad challenges so common in major cities. produce harvested from the City Seeds Urban Farm is sold at North City Farmer’s Market, among other locations.
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| Rebinder Flowers, 2009, Ariel in the Garden, digital color print,8 x 10.6 inches |
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Words from Chinyere Oteh, Photography Project Instructor
Before I began teaching this PPRC Photography Project I was intrigued by urban farming, but knew little about its impact in St. Louis, beyond the fact that a few local farms provided fresh produce at area farmers’ markets. As a regular at Soulard Farmer’ market, and someone who has always been appalled by the lack of fresh produce and healthy food in low-income neighborhoods, I was thrilled to learn that produce harvested from the City Seeds Urban Farm is sold at North City Farmer’s Market, among other locations. City Seeds Urban Farm is a unique program that pairs clients from St. Patrick Center with horticulture training from Gateway Greening. Its mission is to “to provide job training, therapeutic horticulture, and education for individuals dealing with chronic homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness, and criminal records; increase production and distribution of locally grown fresh food; and serve as a resource for community education, sustainable urban agriculture and food security.” It is an innovative idea that provides solutions to the myriad challenges so common in major cities.
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| Rebinder Flowers, 2009, My Perfect Eggplant, digital color print,8 x 10.6 inches |
My time with City Seeds Photography Project participants was split between introductory lessons at St. Patrick Center and further training at the farm, which is located in downtown St. Louis on Pine at the I-64/40 on ramp. Before even picking up their cameras, participants wrote autobiographical poems about growing up, their everyday experiences and the contrast between “the self” the outside world perceives and “the self” only they know best.
With a range of experience from “I don’t know how to use a digital camera” to “I’ve been taking photos for a while and I can’t wait to get started,” we began our assignments. They learned about various types of cameras and different approaches to photography and looked at the portrait work of Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks and Fern Logan, to name a few. Participants had their own portraits taken “professionally” by transforming our classroom into a studio with special lighting and a photo backdrop. Like the work of Zig Jackson who photographs tourists taking photographs at historic Native American landmarks, some of the most interesting photos taken that day were behind-the-scenes images of the participants being photographed. Normally hidden equipment, like the light stands, tripod, messy electrical cords, were visible and you could see how the elegant photo backdrop was just taped to the wall.
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Leroy Johnson, 2009, One Foot Man, digital color print, 10.6 x 8 inches |
In our fifth week we moved to City Seeds Urban Farm and participants had the freedom to photograph the crops, each other and the surrounding city. A couple of weeks in a row we had the fortune of just missing a downpour. The shifting clouds and grey sky provided diffused light that made the various shades of green in the garden come to life. With a simplistic beauty, LeRoy Johnson’s photo “One Foot Man” captured the wonderful kelly green of the grass as he stepped out with his waterproof boot. Anthony Manning’s image “Harvest” captured a truly authentic portrait of Shawna Goben reminiscent of Lange’s photographs of farmers during the Great Depression. Participants also used disposable cameras to photograph a range of subjects throughout the city, from statues, city landmarks, family and friends to a stranger sleeping in a doorway and scenes from the metro.
As I got to know the City Seeds participants and saw the inner workings of the program that enriches their lives, my own life was made better by the opportunity to teach in a natural setting. It was a privilege to share the participants’ perspectives through the images they created and their unequivocal and eloquent poetry. In a superficial world, where we often judge each other on appearances, participant, Gerald Hooks’ poem, reminded me that we can all strive to live more harmoniously. He wrote, “I am just an ordinary person like you / I am in good spirits / I accept everybody as they are / We are all equal / We live in this world together.”
Chinyere E. Oteh
Photography Project Instructor
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Brenda Mowry, 2009, Shovels Work, digital color print,8 x 10.6 inches
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Exhibit Details:
PPRC Photography Project Gallery, November 17, 2009 thru January 10, 2010
(South hall, fourth floor, Social Science/Business Building at UMSL)
Info. 314-516-5273 • Website: http://pprc.umsl.edu
Gallery hours: daily 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Opening Reception: November 17, noon to 1 p.m.
Gallery talks with Photography Project director, Mel Watkin, Instructor, Chinyere Oteh, and Gateway Greening’s Annie Mayrose, and and Ariel Roads-Buback with City Seeds participants
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McMurphy’s Grill : December 15, 2009 thru January 10, 2010
614 North 11th St., St. Louis, MO, 63101
Info. (314) 231-3006 • Website:stpatrickcenter.org/McMurphysGrill.aspx
Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11:00 am-3:00 pm
For special evening and Saturday hours email Mel at watkinm@umsl.edu
Opening Reception: December 15, 5:30 - 7 pm
Gallery talks Photography Project director, Mel Watkin, instructor, Chinyere Oteh, and Gateway Greening’s Annie Mayrose, and Ariel Roads-Buback with City Seeds participants
Special Thanks:
This PPRC Photography Project exhibition was made possible by the Public Policy Research Center, the Missouri Arts Council (a state agency), the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Regional Arts Commission. Special thanks to Advertiser’s Printing, Inc., City Seeds Urban Farm (Annie Andrea Mayrose, Urban Agriculture Coordinator and Ariel Roads-Buback, Horticulturist), St. Patrick Center (Tim Brinkmann, City Seeds Coordinator), Gateway Greening, and McMurphy’s Grill.
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