Garden Project, 2016 – 2018

These photographs were taken in the Garden Project, a non-profit organization of farms and gardens located in the San Francisco County Jail San Bruno Complex.

As a gardener and photographer from 2016 to 2018, I photographed the place in moments when people were working, vegetables were growing, and flowers were blooming as part of its seasonal routine.

Workers consisted of minorities, people from low-income communities, financially challenged youth, and ex-inmates. We were diverse in all aspects yet cooperative in the land, where we kept a peaceful working environment, paradoxically being right next to the Jail.

After 30 years of being founded by Cathrine Sneed, an African American lawyer and horticulturist, the Garden Project ended in June 2018 due to the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department’s funding cut, with no exact reasons announced. 

Thus, this collection became a record of the Garden Project right before its sudden and silent closure.