Rashonda "Zoe Blaq" Bartney is an interdisciplinary artist and land steward from Los Angeles, California. She is bilingual and was raised in Germany. Rashonda continues to travel and her work with marginalized communities has enabled her to create powerful visual art and written stories that center Black and indigenous connections to nature and wellness. Rashonda seeks to engage her audiences in meaningful conversations about current issues that effect and benefit our natural resources. She is the founder of Urban Soul Farmer, a lifestyle connected to food justice, indigenous agriculture and healing arts. Her work provides a platform for discussions about the environment, cultural strengths, and mental health. She has exhibited her personal work in various galleries and her poetry has been featured in publications. Rashonda creates healing art in the garden.
You can find her nurturing the soil, connecting with locals and establishing an edible landscape for food security at Mercado la Paloma -a thriving cultural hub in South LA. In addition, she is experimenting with microclimates and a seed ball project in the majestic Mojave desert.
As a former mental health therapist, she holds an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles and a B.A. in Cinema, Television and Arts from Cal. State University Northridge.

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We are developing a community led restoration project to increase biodiversity, fight climate change and build healthy communities on Chemehuevi land.
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"You will shift and shed several times throughout life. Accept every version. Grace is an art."
​-Rashonda Bartney