Ebony G. Patterson

The artist’s deceptively beautiful work--colorful tapestries and garden-inspired installations created out of faux flowers, glitter, sequins, fabric, toys, beads, jewelry, and other embellishments--comes to life at The New York Botanical Garden, where she employs the beauty and symbolism of living plants to unearth the complex entanglements of race, gender and colonialism.

Accompanying a major site-specific exhibition of sculptural and horticultural installations by artist Ebony G. Patterson at The New York Botanical Garden, this volume provides deeper insights into Patterson’s multilayered practice. The artist’s work has long examined and experimented with the concept of the garden through a practice that uses beauty as an invitation to confront larger societal questions and concerns.

Joanna L. Groarke is Vice President of Exhibitions & Programming at The New York Botanical Garden. Karenna Gore is the founder and executive director of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Abra Lee is the author of Conquer The Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country’s Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers. Seph Rodney is an adjunct faculty member at Parsons School of Design, and an editor and writer for Hyperallergic.