History



In 2016 the Marble Hill Community led by Jacki Fischer, founder of Marble Hill Garden Project started working with artist Juanli Carrión to establish the first OSS permanent garden (OSS#MH). This first garden was planted in May 2017 with 11 beds designed to reflect the shape of the buildings’ blueprint – each bed representing one of the towers of Marble Hill Houses. The plants were selected and planted by residents, and community programming was developed to address health and food literacy.



The success of OSS#MH prompted Juanli Carrion and Jacki Fischer to incorporate OSS as a non-profit in December of 2017. Under the new organization OSS launched in 2018 its first Open Call to NYC artists to submit proposals for the construction of a new garden. Today we have three operating gardens, and several more in early stages of development.

The name of our organization comes from a concept in plant migration, the Outer Seed Shadow is the region where there exists an influx of seeds from a species’ reproductive core, but where—due to adverse conditions—seed germination and seedling reproduction are complicated, causing a decrease of those species’ representatives in that region.

It is in this definition of minorities in the biological world where we take inspiration to ensure that all minorities get the chance to thrive in their environments.

