Onions as Citizenship

Two of my onion tapestries are hanging in Arlington’s Central Library for the month of April as part of a group show called “The Art of Food.” Aside from being super excited to see my work displayed in public, I’ve decided to declare this an act of urban ecological citizenship. Reading Frances Moore Lappe’s Getting a Grip has gotten me thinking about creative ways to increase my participation in society and help transform our current system of what she calls “Thin Democracy” into a dynamic network of citizen-led decision making processes. (See this post for more.)


As I’ve come to discover in the last few months, urban ecological citizenship does not occur in a vacuum. Just as important as the individual behavior changes we can each choose to make are the actions we engage in collectively. I used to think that group action only meant dramatic events like staging a protest or organizing a boycott. Now my definition is much broader (and expanding every day!). Attending a committee meeting for my condo association is in there. So is becoming certified as a Master Naturalist and committing to related service projects. Even using the much-loved riverside dog park in my neighborhood feels like an act of community participation.

The path I’ve taken with my onions seems to symbolize the evolution of my thinking about citizenship. First, I got physically involved, planting thousands of tadpole-like onion starts, harvesting and storing and eating and dreaming about them. Then reflecting on my action and channeling it into art-making—a very internalized and independent process. And finally sharing the manifestation of my ecological relationship with not just family and friends, but strangers in my community through the art show. By hanging my onions in a public space, I’ve launched a kind of dialogue between me and the viewers, the other artists, the librarians who curated the show, maybe even the authors of the books on the shelves. My path to urban ecological citizenship spans this arc from the personal to the public and back again.