Jardineros

In Spanish, jardineros refers to the immigrant gardeners and groundskeepers that tend and maintain landscapes across the United States. But here, jardineros means all of us who are tasked with the cultivation of our world of work: landscape architects and designers, contractors, academics, students, and of course, laborers.

Inside the exhibition you’ll see documentation of experimental collaborations between landscape designers and landscape laborers. You'll be invited to re-envision established means and methods of design practice, and to dream of new models of working that invite co-creation with builders and gardeners.

The works here honor the contributions of Mexican and Central American laborers who construct and maintain landscapes, and whose skilled labor is the foundation of architectural practice in the U.S.

This collective project was made in partnership with the landscape architecture firms Reed Hilderbrand and TERREMOTO, and we invite you to take these ideas with you: the work is shared to inspire change.

About the Team

Michelle A. Franco
Curator

Special thanks to the owners and crews of Barranca Landscaping, DG Landworks, Piscataqua Landscape, and SoCal Landscapes.

This research was sponsored by Ohio State’s Global Arts and Humanities Arts Creation Grant, 2024.

Muchas gracias a mis colaboradores:

Jaime Andrade, Juliette Sinaí Chaparro Silva, Javier Cruz-Ginez, David Godshall, Michael Johnson, Stephanie Hsia, Sandhya Kochar, Jenny Jones, Erica Levin, Maura McMahon, Nuith Morales, Luke Stettner, Ry Wharton, and Story Wiggins