Meech Boakye: Sunstead

Conceived by Portland-based artist Meech Boakye, this year’s gathering centered fortune telling and meditative offerings to mark the transition into summer. The picnic featured non-native ingredients often labeled “invasive,” inviting reflection on the political and cultural histories embedded in how plants, and humans, are inherently categorized.

For the gathering, Meech created a zine which you can view here.

Meech Boakye’s research examines foraging as a cultural practice increasingly restricted by private property, land access, and ideas of ecological purity. Through work with non-native plant species, wild yeast cultivation, and biomaterial experimentation, the project connects conversations around conservation in Portland and Los Angeles to broader questions of migration, adaptation, and belonging. Rather than treating “invasive” plants as inherently harmful, Sunstead considers how these ecologies emerge through human histories of trade, displacement, and cultivation.

Sunstead was hosted in partnership with the Audubon Center at Debs Park. The picnic featured a light meal, performance, participatory actions, as well as artist-designed picnic blankets for seating on the ground. 

Active Cultures has produced projects with Meech Boakye since 2022, beginning with their ongoing Research Poems and watering (2024).