Who is We? Where is There? What is It?
In partnership with Judd Foundation
Photos: Ramie Ahmed
On Saturday, September 17, Sky High Farm and Judd Foundation hosted a symposium entitled Who is We? Where is There? What is It? at the Foundation’s SoHo Building in New York City. The day consisted of three distinct but interrelated moderated conversations that centered themes relevant to both the work of Sky High Farm and the speakers invited to participate, all of whom are part of a diverse and extended network of collaborators. The panels focused individually on art, land, and community, intentionally broad but potent themes that are referenced often in today’s cultural and industrial discourses. This repetition can leave the words feeling void of meaning, and the day’s series of talks asked what each of them really stands for, exploring the topics through a lens of both human and nature-centered care, uniquely approached by the diverse range of participants.
The Land Panel (full video here) explores the tensions and overlaps between different efforts to define, use, and protect land: private and public conservation, Indigenous land stewardship and sovereignty efforts, and cooperative urban and rural agriculture, all with the understanding that what the meaning of land -- as something abstract, material, embodied, or owned -- is always contested and negotiated, as well as shaped by cultural forces and socio-environmental histories.
Moderated by Veronica Davidov, visual and environmental anthropologist, in dialogue with Karen Washington, activist, farmer and Co-founder of Black Urban Growers (BUGS) and Co-owner of Rise & Root Farm; Candice Hopkins, curator and Executive Director of Forge Project; and Haley Mellin, artist, conservationist and Founder of Art into Acres.
The Art Panel (full video here) explores the multiplicity of artworlds and artist trajectories that exist and which ultimately push beyond traditional markets and studio practices. Deana Haggag, Program Officer, Arts and Culture at Mellon Foundation; Dan Colen, artist and Founder of Sky High Farm; Linda Goode Bryant, artist and Founder of Project EATS; and Diya Vij, Associate Curator at Creative Time - all members of organizations that stretch individualist ideas of art and authorship - discuss the roles of artist and audience, place and accessibility, legacy, capital influence, and individual vs. collective agency as they relate to artmaking today.
The Community Panel (full video here) builds off of the adjacent symposium threads to ask, ultimately: In an era of global interconnectedness, how is a community truly defined? What makes an institution or a neighborhood into a home or an audience into an alliance? Thelma Golden, Chief Curator and Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem; Tremaine Emory, Founder of Denim Tears and Creative Director of Supreme; Father Mike Lopez, Founder of The Hungry Monk Rescue Truck and Monkworx; and Anicka Yi, artist, will explore how the concept of community has shaped their work, and the power in seeing our homes, histories, and even our bodies as porous, interdependent, and alive.
