Over the last few years, urban gardening has grown increasingly more prominent-as an emblem of demand for healthier, more natural food; as a centerpiece of community-minded interaction; and as a means of cultivating beautifully functional public spaces. All these factors are in evidence at the Somerset Community Garden in South Providence, Rhode Island, where families of African, Cambodian, Dominican, European, Hmong, Laotian, Liberian, and other origins share a public space where they maintain all sorts of different crops. Photographed across many seasons over a two-year span by Lucas Foglia, "The Garden" covers an entire city block and continues to attract a vast array of individuals.
"I've gone back a lot to visit when I'm in Providence, and every time I go there are more gardens," says Foglia. "It's interesting, considering what's going on with food globally and financially. Maybe something like this isn't going to solve the global food crisis, but it is interesting to see people growing more and more food in creative ways-in abandoned lots and window sills and other previously unused urban spaces." And, indeed, when a DIY movement gains collective momentum, the potential impact is boundless.
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