Ron Finley
Artist, Gangsta Gardener, and Community Leader
"Gardeners are not greedy or selfish. They know that the soil can provide for all. That the rate of return of planting a fruit tree beats the Dow Jones Industrial average every day. For you not to value the soil is for you not to value yourself. Gardens equal freedom."
Biography
Most widely known as the Gangsta Gardener, Ron Finley inadvertently started a
horti-Cultural revolution when he transformed the barren parkway in front of his South Central L.A. home into an edible oasis. Ron travels the world speaking to people about the importance of growing their own food and reminding them that they have the power to design their own lives. He now focuses on The Ron Finley Project, an organization that turns food prisons into food forests and transforms culture and communities, one garden at a time. He is also an accomplished visual and installation artist whose site-specific works interrogate layers of regional history to illuminate paths forward.