Soil and Soul

Soil and Soul energizes community gardens as healing hubs and economic generators in Greater Grand Crossing through land stewardship, conversational meals, performances, and workshops. Artists, curators, chefs, youth, and neighbors collaborate to remediate the soil, create intergenerational exchange, and reclaim cultural pride. This project connects Southside communities, and cross-pollinates public spaces with culture, care and Black joy at the core. The project is in three parts:

I. Black Joy organized by Wisdom Baty of WILD YAMS at THE cre.æ.tive ROOM is a series of engagements which fosters and uplifts cultural pride, employs Black artists and curators, and serves the neighborhood through open-enrollment residencies for Black mothers, a summer camp for mothers and children, and intergenerational storytelling gatherings.

Projects are led by Black Joy artists in residence: Aaliyah Christina, Alyssa Martinez, Sandra McCollum, and Chazarhae Morales Williams. Black Joy artists create and lead summer programs celebrating Black cultural heritage, connecting neighbors across generational divides, and catering to the needs of Black mothers, caretakers, and children. Black Joy develops a grassroots support network, connecting young families and long-time residents, within a shared outdoor space for gathering, healing, cooking, and neighborhood-led art that contribute to the health and wellness of Black women. THE cre.æ.tive ROOM and WILD YAMS serve as a site of safety, creativity, community healing through art, food, and intergenerational collaboration.

II. Summer Youth Employees and artist mentors at Emil G. Hirsch High School work together in the school courtyard to create a phytoremediation lab, food garden, and public seating.

Through phytoremediation with Nance Klehm, students plant native plants to remove toxins and regenerate the soil in an environmentally friendly, cost-effective way. Building a new stage with Bryan Saner, students create a public space to gather and celebrate. Collaboratively creating streetwear with Mashaun Ali Hendricks, students declare their pride of place to the neighborhood staging a fashion show on the stage. Students created a chicken coop with master gardener Gregory Bratton at the Laquan McDonald and Trayvon Martin Community Gardens at 85th and Escanaba. Artist mentorship is led by: Saner of Bluestem Building and Restoration, a carpenter and creative practitioner; Klehm of Social Ecologies, an ecological systems designer and agroecological grower; and Hendricks of TRAP HOUSE CHICAGO, a restorative justice practitioner and streetwear designer.

III. Justice Hotel curators at Pause For Peace work with neighborhood artists, students, and gardeners to produce events within the garden gazebo built in 2021 by Summer Youth Employees.

Curators and artists Ciera McKissick, Caroline K. Ng, SY, and Ji Yang present and realize community-responsive events that cultivate and advance diverse voices, inclusive spaces, and multiple ideas of justice through alternative ways of engaging and participating in the arts.

Curators collaborate with Chicago artists, partners and communities to discuss, engage with, and act upon topics of justice that concern them. This is the way we approach justice: we connect creative and artistic actions to the community’s concerns and dreams.

Soil and Soul is supported in part by federal assistance listing number 21.027 awarded to 6018North by the US Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the amount of $45,000 representing 50% of total project funding.

Soil and Soul is partially supported by a Together We Heal Creative Place grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events and the Mayor's Office of Equity and Justice.

Press

Chicago Reader “Wisdom Baty: The Uplifting Curator,” December 26, 2023 by Wisdom Baty (pdf)