In partnership with The St. Charles Center for Faith + Action, the Solitary Garden at 7100 St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, transforms the grounds into a living statement of abolition.This garden is grown in collaboration with artist and poet Obie Weathers, who is incarcerated on Death Row in Texas.

This Solitary Garden began 10-years to the day the very first one was installed in the Abolitionist’s Sanctuary, also in New Orleans. That day also marked the one year anniversary of Herman Wallace’s freedom in 2014. It was a collective effort from The Center for Faith + Action, St Charles Baptist Church, Impacted Solitary Survivors Coalition (ISSC) and many volunteers and passersby. The construction took place over the course of 3 weekends and was completed October 19th, 2024. The garden beds were constructed using Revolutionary Mortar, a material made from the byproducts of sugarcane, cotton, and tobacco—crops tied to America’s history of enslavement. This choice connects the legacies of slavery and the prison-industrial complex while reclaiming these materials for growth and healing.

As the garden flourishes, the architecture of confinement is overtaken by life, symbolizing the triumph of hope, love, and imagination over oppression. The project invites reflection on our shared histories and challenges us to envision a future without prisons, where collective care and growth replace harm and isolation.