08/25/2026
FACULTY HIGHLIGHT!
Allana Clarke
Assistant Professor
Rooted in resilience:
Wayne State professor Allana Clarke transforms a Detroit garden into living art
Can a community garden tell the story of the African diaspora?
That question sits at the heart of “Amend,” a living art installation and educational community garden created by Wayne State University Assistant Professor Allana Clarke. Located at the newly opened Cadillac Arts Centre in Detroit's Little Village neighborhood, the garden is more than a place to grow vegetables. The project uses heirloom seeds, historical research and community participation to explore migration, displacement and Black resilience through the lens of agriculture.
A Trinidadian American artist who joined the WSU faculty in 2020, Clarke has earned a reputation for creating photography, sculpture, performance and installation works that examine Blackness across multiple facets. Her research often draws on everyday materials connected to Black beauty practices, challenging audiences to reconsider how race is reflected therein.
For Clarke, whose interdisciplinary artistic practice has long examined Black identity, history and systems of power, the garden represents a natural evolution of her work.
The garden grows heirloom crops whose histories trace the movement of African peoples across continents, including West African leafy greens, heirloom okra, sorghum, fonio, brown cotton and other culturally significant plants. Many of the seeds represent varieties preserved by generations of families after being carried across the Atlantic by enslaved Africans.
"I was inspired by the incredible community of urban growers throughout Detroit," she said. "The city showed me that there was a way to merge my creative practice with gardening."
That connection extends directly to Wayne State.
Rather than building the project alone, Clarke intentionally assembled a team of former Wayne State students and graduates. Alumni have served as garden assistants, photographers, videographers and graphic designers, giving them professional experience while continuing relationships that began in her classroom.
"As a teacher, education is always at the center of what I do," she said. "If someone leaves the garden with new knowledge they can bring into their home or community, then the project is doing exactly what I hoped it would do."
For more on Amend:
https://today.wayne.edu/news/2026/07/30/rooted-in-resilience-wayne-state-professor-allana-clarke-transforms-a-detroit-garden-into-living-art-69848
Wayne State University College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts
WSU professor Allana Clarke's living art installation at Detroit's Cadillac Arts Centre connects community, history and the African diaspora through gardening.
