Located in New Orleans, The Solitary Gardens is a project by artist jackie sumell and an homage to political prisoner Herman Wallace, who spent 41 years of his life in a 6’ x 9’ cage until his conviction was overturned. Fueled by the desire to keep Wallace’s legacy alive, The Solitary Gardens turns solitary confinement cells into garden beds that are the same size and blueprint as the cell in which Wallace, and so many others, spent decades. Utilizing the tools of prison abolition, permaculture, contemplative practices, and transformative justice to facilitate exchanges between persons subjected to solitary confinement and volunteer proxies on the “outside,” The Solitary Gardens are “gardened” by prisoners, known as Solitary Gardeners. This process is facilitated through written exchanges, growing calendars and design templates. As the garden beds mature, the prison architecture is overpowered by plant life, proving that nature—like hope, love, and imagination—will ultimately triumph over the harm humans impose on one another and on the planet.

This screening of Abolishing Prisons One Garden at a Time is made possible by A Blade of Grass, a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing socially engaged art.