My latest art project started with a design and an idea. With the help of my fabulous fabricator I was able to make my vision come to life while learning new skills like welding and using fire as a new tool in my art practice. The mobile consists of local recycled materials and an original patina created by me.
As part of my artist residency, I was honored to be the artist teacher for S.O.Y youth camp. I taught a talented group of young artists how to make aircrete and we made an aircrete sculpture garden. It was also a lesson on how to develop and create a collaborative installation piece.
“All My Homies Love Plants”
“5 Agents”
Self Help Graphics
Boyle Heights, CA
July- September 2022
At the center is an urn containing soil sampled from a lead impacted area. Instead of thinking of it as a death vessel, we can see it as regenerative potential ready to be activated. The five elements are invited to assist in the healing process of our soil and communities. The five agents are zeolites- (minerals) that trap lead, water, compost and mulch, plants and fungi and humans working together to find solutions. Created by Prospering Backyards artists, Maru Garcia and Zoe Blaq.
“Soil Incarnation” by Rashonda " Zoe Blaq" Bartney
Propeller Gallery /18th St. Gallery
Santa Monica, ca
March-July 2022
Mixed media, natural materials, recycled materials. Video.
Soil Incarnations is a visual story inspired by urban gardeners that are tending to the soil in food deserts on Tongva land (South L.A). It is also a story of dust storms, lavender sunsets, and growing trees on Chemehuevi land west of the Morongo Basin. A food desert may seem chaotic while the high desert may appear barren. Both hold duality to be transformed. Soil restoration refers to actions to regenerate natural soil cycles through revegetation. The aim is to stabilize the soil and increase the supply of organic matter, which promotes restoration and biodiversity.
Soil Incarnations is a visual story inspired by urban gardeners that are tending to the soil in food deserts on Tongva land (South L.A). It is also a story of dust storms, lavender sunsets, and growing trees on Chemehuevi land west of the Morongo Basin. A food desert may seem chaotic while the high desert may appear barren. Both hold duality to be transformed. Soil restoration refers to actions to regenerate natural soil cycles through revegetation. The aim is to stabilize the soil and increase the supply of organic matter, which promotes restoration and biodiversity.
Migration of African Indigenous Foods to South Central LA
by Rashonda "Zoe Blaq" Bartney
The installation is a visual of the Afro indigenous food migration and our resilience in preserving culture and community right here in South Central LA.
Decolonizing our relationship with how and why we grow food is a form of resistance and provides historic contact to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice and sustainability in urban spaces.
In some cases generational trauma can be linked to agriculture because it can be seen as a place of oppression and exploitation of Black and Brown people. This is a place to heal and take our power back. Growing food is a way to honor the agricultural ingenuity of our ancestors. Let's sit on the porch and share our relatedness of recipes, tradition and family!
Decolonizing our relationship with how and why we grow food is a form of resistance and provides historic contact to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice and sustainability in urban spaces.
In some cases generational trauma can be linked to agriculture because it can be seen as a place of oppression and exploitation of Black and Brown people. This is a place to heal and take our power back. Growing food is a way to honor the agricultural ingenuity of our ancestors. Let's sit on the porch and share our relatedness of recipes, tradition and family!
Afro Latinx Innervisions Festival
Mercado la Paloma
South LA, CA
July 2021
Mercado la Paloma
South LA, CA
July 2021
Abolitionist Garden Pod at the MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, May 2021
|
"Abolitionist pod (prototype) is supported, in part, by Art Rise, a project of WERISE.LA, an initiative of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, with generous support from Environmental Council of The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Participating urban gardeners and farmers include the WOW Flower Project, CSU, Ambiguous Digz, Urban Soul Farmer (Rashonda Bartney), Hereticgardener, The plant plug LA, Farm for a future, Sylmar HS -Agriculture Class, and Te'Amir Sweeney.
Art Rise is a series of over fifteen outdoor art installations in and around Downtown Los Angeles, commissioned especially for WE RISE, that encourages wellbeing and healing through art, connection, community engagement, and creative expression." - moca.org |