MY CONNECTION TO KEVIN ARDOIN OF ZYDECO FARMS COMES THROUGH MY ROLE AT FIGHTINGVILLE FRESH FARMERS MARKET, WHERE I COLLABORATE WITH FARMERS, ARTISANS, AND FOOD WORKERS ROOTED IN COMMUNITY. Kevin and I have built a working relationship grounded in trust and shared care and respect for the land. I’ve spent time with him in his okra fields, behind my camera and in conversation, documenting not only what he grows but also how he moves and listens to the land.

My approach is slow and observational. I’m drawn to capture the quiet moments between our conversation. His hands sorting and selecting each piece, the curve of an okra pod, the sunrise, and dew drops on each leaf, is what catches my attention. I can see the rhythms of how he tends the land, season after season

These moments carry Black land memory, and I can feel it. Wisdom passed down through practice and shaped by care, and ancestral presence. I’m interested in how the land remembers us, and how Kevin continues to listen, respond, and carry it forward.

I want viewers to feel intimacy rather than distance, and to recognize Black farming as an act of commitment, innovation, and resistance. Let’s reconsider land not as property, but as a full relationship, responsibility, and remembrance.