Alma Backyard Farms

This body of work tells the stories of those at Alma Backyard Farms who were formerly incarcerated through portraiture, documentary imagery, and audio accounts recorded during portrait sessions. In Spanish, alma means “soul.” Alma Backyard Farms is an organization whose mission is to reclaim the lives of formerly incarcerated people through urban farming. However, it would be a mistake to assume that farming is simply the sole focus of those at Alma. Here, they don’t just grow produce, they grow people too. The farm acts as a metaphor for new beginnings, redemption, and growth of the whole person. The relationship between those who care for the plants on the land and the land itself are symbiotic. Farming provides those at Alma with the opportunity to give back to the communities that they may have damaged in the past. It gives them a chance to sow good seeds in their neighborhood and to be a force for positive change. These farms are places for community. These farms are places for transformation.