Becoming Earth, Flowing Water is a multimedia documentary project exploring agricultural labor, the interconnected ecosystem, and daily life at Ever-Growing Farm in Ulster Park and Kerhonkson, New York.
At New York’s first commercial rice farm, Malick Badjie, his father Nfamara, his cousin Moustapha Diedhiou, and his sister Nyasa Hyote cultivate Japanese rice varieties for and with their communities. The family adapts their traditional West African cultivation methods to the local Hudson Valley region, recognizing that due to climate change making the region warmer and wetter, this climate now mirrors the rice-growing microclimates of Japan.
In tandem, the project gives equal weight to the farm as a living ecosystem, recognizing that the water, mud, crops, and all non-human living beings have their own purpose and also exist as essential collaborators alongside the agricultural stewards. Utilizing analog and digital photography, as well as field audio recordings, the series documents the journey of the farmers and the crop, following both family and grain from rice seed to rice stalk.
Globally, the family’s agricultural methods offer a model for low-impact climate solutions and sustainable/natural food production. Culturally and locally, their practices provide African-American communities with a pathway to reclaim land agency and deepen their relationship with Earth.