Public Art on the Greenway

Public Art on the Greenway. . , Ekua Holmes , Seeds of Love and Justice, 2022 , Sunflower plantings, Seeds of Love and Justice, surrounding the main lawn at Dewey Square, is an extension of Ekua Holmes' ongoing Roxbury Sunflower Project, which uses sunflowers to spread beauty and hope throughout the historically Black Boston neighborhood where the artist has lived since childhood. Designed by Holmes to grow alongside Breathe Life Together, the mural from Rob "Pro Blak" Gibbs (another Roxbury-native artist), the sunflower installation is dotted with bright golden signage featuring poetry and quotations curated by Holmes that speak to the importance of engaging, supporting, and nurturing Boston's youth and upcoming generations.
, Of her project, the artist writes: "The Roxbury Sunflower Project is a seed of love for the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, for its geography, its leadership and its historical and continuing struggles against displacement, broken promises, and cultural neglect. The Roxbury Sunflower Project is also a challenge to monuments of stone and metal, because it is made of a living organism that must be nurtured, cared for, and sustained. For me, sunflowers represent resilience, inner beauty, self-determination and the ability for a community to evolve and emerge while staying deeply grounded in its history and traditions. Sunflowers have a radiance that sustains us by inviting us to turn toward the light in all things.",

"From an ecological standpoint, sunflowers provide multiple levels of nourishment for the earth, both above and below ground: their blooms are supreme pollinators, attracting both bees and butterflies, while their deep roots draw toxins from damaged soil. Sunflowers symbolize the hardiness of Roxbury and make a compelling emblem for our community. The sunflowers' essential attributes mirror those that are reflected in the cultural traditions of Roxbury's Black community and must now be collectively amplified in our society" , Ekua Holmes

, [Captions:] , Ekua Holmes is an interdisciplinary artist, illustrator, and designer. She has created and led workshops, been a visiting artist and lecturer, and held artist residencies in public and private institutions throughout New England. Currently, Ms. Holmes serves as Commissioner and Vice-Chair of the Boston Art Commission, which oversees public artworks in the City of Boston. She's also the Associate Director at the Center for Art and Community Partnerships at the Massachusetts College of Art + Design, where she earned her BFA in Photography. Through a 2018 Now + There Public Art Accelerator Fellowship, Ms. Holmes launched The Roxbury Sunflower Project in which she facilitated the planting of 10,000 sunflower seeds in her native Roxbury, MA by giving away free seeds, instructions, and encouragement. Now in its fifth year, the project has highlighted the sunflower as a symbol of resilience, radiance, self-determination, intergenerational learning, and appreciation of urban landscapes., London Parker-McWhorter is a Boston based photographer, composer, digital artist and gardener. He is the Project Lead for this installation. His visual work is informed by a deep family tradition as a third-generation photographer. He has proudly contributed to documentaries featured on PBS's Independent Lens and Northeastern University's Lower Roxbury Black History Project. London currently serves as the co-caretaker of the United Neighbors of Lower Roxbury Community garden, a community gardening and neighborhood action organization that has supported the growing and planting of sunflower seedlings with The Roxbury Sunflower Project since 2018.