Crenshaw Dairy Mart hosted the “Free the Land! Free The People!” Farmers Market & Exhibition Closing Party on Saturday, Feb. 15.
The participants included several small African American owned businesses and community partners, such as Prosperity Market, Teach to Reach, Huma House, and The Wow Flower Project.
Fueled by their core values of Ancestry, Healing, and Abolition, Crenshaw Dairy Mart has focused on becoming a sanctuary and community art space in recent years. The exhibition highlighted the abolitionist pod, which is an “autonomously irrigated, solar powered garden with modular geodesic domes” built by and for communities impacted by food and housing insecurity, and the prison industrial complex.
Ashley Blakeney, executive director, shared, “The abolitionist pod is a geodesic dome structure that pulls from sacred geometry and indigenous inspirations. It was something that was birthed out of what the [Crenshaw Dairy Mart] team was witnessing during the early days of the pandemic.”
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Blakeney commented that, in collaboration with the Inglewood Community Fridge, they were assisting impacted individuals with food boxes, when they “started noticing the disparity and the challenges that our Black and Brown community members were facing.”
As a team, they began to brainstorm ways to further help the community. Through an abolitionist and artist lens, they created a space of mutual aid, where impacted community members received support.
Blakeney said, “The dome itself holds about 1,000 plants. When we build it, we originally installed it as a project with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Geffen, and folks were able to come visit and take plants.” Blakeney added that Crenshaw Dairy Mart sources their plants from local Black farmers and Community Services Unlimited.
With two abolitionist pods currently residing at the Crenshaw Dairy Mart and Hilda Solis Care First Village, the team is excitedly working towards having a third pod, with details of its location to come at a later time.
“Our vision and our goal is that we are able to plant them around the county in spaces that really need them. We also think of it as a practice outside of structure, which is what our exhibition speaks to,” Blakeney shared.
Huma House held two workshops led by Meetra Johansen (co-founder and CEO), Tobias Tubbs (co-Founder and head of Huma Resilience Program), and Genea Richardson (instructor of Huma Resilience Program) focusing on The Art of Kokedama and its transformative power. This ancient Japanese technique, in which individuals create kokedama balls using moss and small plants or succulents, promotes mindfulness and tranquility.
The Wow Flower Project also held a workshop centering on the history of naturopathic medicine and traditional healing. Individuals had the opportunity to learn about the history of African plants and their journey to the Americas.
To learn more about “Free the Land! Free The People! A study of the abolitionist pod,” follow Crenshaw Dairy Mart on Instagram @crenshawdairymart, or visit their website at www.crenshawdairymart.com
