Plants for the People! Celebrating Providence Seed Library

The City of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture + Tourism and Office of Sustainability invite you to join Artist-in-Residence Fatema Maswood as they reflect on seeds as a technology for abundance and connectivity. Fatema will share some of her work with Providence Seed Library, talk about building an art practice in relationship with the plant world, and guide the group in making seed sculptures and mobile medicine gardens. This event is part of SustainPVD Fair 2021.

Providence Seed Library (provseedlib.com) is a living collection of open-pollinated, heirloom, and culturally resonant seeds available for free to the public through Providence Community Libraries branches. The seeds are fully searchable in the library’s online catalogue (search “providence seed library” as your key term). Alongside the seed library, users can access educational programming and visit gardens at individual library branches. The seed collection was built through Fatema’s artist residency with the Office of Sustainability, where they were awarded to develop artwork to engage Providence residents in the strategies outlined in the Providence Climate Justice Plan.

Fatema Maswood (they/them, she/her) is an ecological designer and educator of Tunisian and Bangladeshi descent. Their work addresses decentralized water infrastructure, disaster resilience, soil remediation, and land justice. Their projects include explorations of traditional North African water harvesting technologies, designing future cities with youth, interactive disaster preparedness games, and graphic introductions to zoning documents and cooperative land ownership. Informed by being raised in a Sufi tradition, Fatema works to embody spiritual practices of recollection, remembrance, and revolution within their artistic practice.

Artist Talk + Mobile Medicine Garden Workshop
Thursday, September 9, 5:30PM
Providence Community Library Washington Park branch library
1316 Broad St, Providence, RI