Since opening on April 3 at BUILD, the “West Side Earth Keepers” exhibition has showcased the stories and portraits of West Side gardeners whose stewardship sustains both community and future generations.
Kesiah Bascom, manager of Austin Grown, a program from BUILD helped shaped the “West Side Earth Keepers” exhibition by leading interviews and community engagement, while Kenn Cook Jr., a West Side photographer and culture keeper, created the project’s portraits documenting local gardeners and land stewards.
Cook said the project grew out of meeting Bascom last year, which sparked his curiosity about the rise of community gardens and urban farming in Austin. As he connected with her and other West Side Earth Keepers, he began learning more about the work and was inspired to explore and document it.
“I learned that Austin has 26 community gardens that have developed over the last few years, and people started recommending books for me to read. From there, we began discussing a potential project to honor those doing this work, because I realized I didn’t know much about it,” Cook said.
The vision behind the West Side Earth Keepers art exhibit is to uplift longtime community members doing this work and place them at the center of attention, according to Bascom. The exhibit aims to recognize and celebrate their contributions by putting them on display.
“We want to say, ‘Hey, we see you, we honor you, and we want you to know that the work you’re doing doesn’t go unrecognized.’ We would love for other people to share in our pride in the work that you’re doing. I feel like Kenn really played an important role in bringing that to life and exceeded my expectations of what it could be, so it was a really fun project,” Bascom said.
Bascom described how a mother and daughter participated in the project together at Harambee Garden, being both interviewed and photographed side by side. The experience highlighted the intergenerational nature of the work, as the mother passed down her care for the earth while the daughter interpreted it in her own way.
Cook said when people came to see themselves on the walls, it became a powerful moment, bringing families and friends together to honor them and recognize the importance of caring for the land and for one another.
“While we often think of memory and archives as records in past tense, I’ve always seen my work as bridging the gap between generations. When I’m making these images, I feel like I’m in the presence of history and also creating it through these photographs, because these are people who are continuing to shape the West Side and the culture we live in,” Cook said.
There was a reflection on the historical connection of Black people as stewards of the earth, noting how land care has long been a significant part of Black culture and movement. This relationship was also acknowledged as being shaped by history, including enslavement and its impacts.
“I think that natural connection to land is just who we are. But also, as an act of resistance, these earth keepers are taking spaces that would otherwise be empty in our community and turning them into something beautiful. They are inviting people into this culture of resistance that doesn’t depend on large companies or chain stores to produce our food; instead, they’re trying to give people the skills so they can survive. With that, I think there is a lot of resistance built in there,” Cook said.
Bascom said the team sat down to be intentional about the questions they were asking participants, aiming to capture a range of perspectives depending on each person’s background.
“The easiest way to a gardener’s heart is to just ask them what’s growing in their backyards, or what they’re most excited about in nature for the growing season. Not everybody was a farmer, but people are doing this work not to make money or anything like that, they’re doing it because they truly love it. It’s their passion,” Bascom said.
The interview questions were shaped around themes of advocacy, people’s relationships to nature and what they personally enjoyed in the natural world.
“I love that having these photographs and stories will continue that legacy for future generations to see and hear what we’ve been doing, and to understand why we