Iris Brown
Puerto Rican Foodways & Agriculture
Afro-Boricua / Loiceña
Philadelphia, PA
“Being a Taproot artist means having the ability to make my dreams happen that I thought would stay in my notebooks.”
Iris Brown
Photo by Anh Thai.
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Transforming abandoned lots into award-winning gardens
Iris Brown is dedicated to the rich exchange of culture, agriculture, and food, amplifying this diasporic connection between her Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia and her hometown of Loíza, in Puerto Rico. In the early 1980s, Iris Brown co-founded Grupo Motivos, bringing together Puerto Rican women from different parts of Puerto Rico, united by the desire to use their surroundings to create beautiful spaces for their children and neighbors, ultimately converting abandoned lots into award-winning gardens and ancestral education sites. She is the visionary force behind the Norris Square Neighborhood Project gardens, including El Batey, Las Parcelas, the Butterfly Garden, Raíces, and Villa Africana Colobó.
Iris’s contributions extend beyond urban gardening, collaborating with artists, farmers, and cultural producers. Her culinary creations, deeply rooted in Puerto Rican traditions and the wisdom of her mother and grandmother, serve as an additional dimension of her work, shaping her into a cultural and culinary steward. Iris’s practice embodies the relationship between culture, agriculture, and food, ensuring the preservation of traditions for generations to come.
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