By Marvella Muro

As we celebrate Earth Day, we celebrate in gratitude for the work that grassroots organizations and individuals do to inform communities about sustainable practices and awareness of contamination, the day-to-day Indigenous traditions for feeding, healing, and regrowth; and the many ways communities are empowering themselves to address climate change, environmental justice, and food inequity. 

Since 2020, SHG and the artist Maru Garcia and Beatriz Jaramillo have been researching the history of the environmental contamination in neighborhoods surrounding the former Exide Battery Plant in Vernon and the Magic Johnson Park in Willowbrook for the exhibition Sinks: Places we call Home, part of the Getty Foundation's PST 2024 ArtxScience Initiative.

Our team has learned so much about these communities and their history in the past almost two and a half years. The historical economic neglect of the people, minimal resources, food inequity, minimal environmental oversite, poor leadership, and the prioritization of profit over its community. On the other hand, we have equally learned and met independent organizations, community members, artists, and gardeners who are taking it upon themselves to shift community expectations of what they deserve to have. 

On Earth Day, SHG and Beatriz Jaramillo will commence a monthly program with the Willowbrook Community Garden in a series called Urban Garden: Nature, Art and Healing on Saturday, April 22, from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 pm. The series is intended for community members to engage with their local community garden, get a plot, learn about the principles of food sustainability, composting, and medicinal plants, and reconnect with nature and fellow community members while making art. 

We will also work with the Healing Center at Martin Luther King Hospital, connecting them with the garden to build opportunities for cross-engagement– conversations, and artmaking. Early this month, we held a cyanotype workshop and talked about our role as stewards of our environment at the Alma Backyard Farms in Compton, which provides a full bag of fresh produce and organic products for free! Mudtown Farms in Watts, founded by the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, is also a source of fresh, healthy produce for the local community, offering different gardening workshops. We will also attend the Black & Green Microfest: Past, Present & Future at the Fremont Wellness Center and Community Garden, organized by master gardener and artist Zoe Blaq @urbansoulfarmers, who also happens to work closely on @Prosperingbackyards with Maru Garcia. 

As in South LA, there is much grassroots environmental activism throughout LA's Eastside. East Yards Communities for Environmental Justice led a community meeting in February to inform and update residents of their findings after homes were remediated, discovering the shoddy work that the contract companies had conducted (highlighted in the LA Times Article). Communities for a Better Environment are advocating for greener parks, schools, and communities connecting residents to resources. Vision City Terrace and First Blocks of Whittier Blvd, founded and run by community members, and LA Compost and TAWA Compost work with SHG to advocate for green and safe communities.

We have installed fourteen test sites in our work with Prospering backyards in the last five months. These sites are installed at the homes of community members who live within and outside the 4-mile radius of the Exide Battery Plant. The Pb team will set the final test site on Earth Day, and together, we will track the lead absorption using zeolite minerals on their properties. This work and research have been highlighted in the LA Times and KCRW. 

This summer, we'll host our Soil Time! Workshop at the East Los Angles County Library on Wednesday, June 14! You can learn more about our work, meet our partners at the Natural History Museum and local environmental organizations, and make art. More details to come!

Our collective work is to inform communities about our endangered environment and awareness of the immediate impact on our communities and health. It's equally vital to connect people to organizational resources like those listed above, familiarize them with steps to mitigating risks, and provide the tools to shift our community's perspective from helplessness to empowerment. 

PST 2024 exhibition: Sinks: Places We Call Home (made possible with support from the Getty Foundation), highlights the environmental disparities created by the manufacturing sites in two communities located near Self Help Graphics (SHG): Exide Battery plant in Vernon and the former Athens Tank Farm (Exxon/Mobil Oil Corporation) site in Willowbrook. Los Angeles-based artists Beatriz Jaramillo and Maru Garcia are conducting data-driven research that reveals harmful practices of the past and present and their long-term devastating ramifications on people and the environment. Sinks does not attempt to change the past but to elevate the voices and stories of the people who form these neighborhoods, despite the locations having served as sinks or reservoirs of pollution, and informs audiences about land contamination and alternative solutions. 

Marvella Muro is the Director of Artistic Programs and Education, and Curator of the PST 2024 exhibition, Sinks: Places We Call Home.