Miami Presents: Ohio’s Secret Gardens and Hidden Food Histories
A Preview of the Culture Crops Project
Presented on: Wednesday, October 22nd 2025 at 12:00 PM EDT
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Please join us for a first look at Culture Crops, an upcoming exhibition at the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum (RCCAM) at Miami University. This project, led by Cincinnati-based fine arts photographer Tina Gutierrez, celebrates Ohio’s rich history and the diversity of its food-growing communities through powerful photographic portraits and stories.
Open January through June at RCCAM, Culture Crops will highlight Indigenous, immigrant, and local farmers, their traditions, and the foods they cultivate. In this preview event, Gutierrez will be joined by videographer Asa Featherstone and local food history expert Dr. R. Alan Wight to share behind-the-scenes insights into the project’s development, early stories they’ve uncovered, and the vision for the exhibition.
Funded in part by an America 250 Buckeye Grant from the Ohio 250 Commission, Culture Crops explores how farming, culture, and community intersect to shape Ohio’s past and future.
Thumbnail Image: Tina Gutierrez. 2024. “Madonna of The Garden” Jordyn Flowe and Obadiah at Melrose Garden, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Tina Gutierrez is passionately involved with social justice photography and believes that the camera is a tool for change. She strongly identifies with both her Hispanic and Appalachian heritage. She works to create images that show the beauty in the diversity of humanity and hopes to create healing opportunities for individuals and communities. She prefers to be called an “Arts Instigator”when working with communities by bringing attention to issues that are difficult or challenging through thought provoking projects that enable others to express their fears, hopes and dreams for the future.
Asa (AY-suh) Featherstone, IV is an award-winning artist, photographer, curator, and
founder of MIDTONES Photo Magazine, based in Cincinnati, OH. His work centers the
beauty and nuance of daily life in marginalized communities, using a narrative style that
leads by listening. Influenced by his homeschool upbringing, Asa developed a practice
rooted in observation, empathy, and curiosity about how people move through the
World. He has created work for clients including The New York Times, TIME, The Wall Street
Journal, Google, the WNBA, and American Airlines. His photographs have been
recognized by TIME as one of the Top 100 Portraits of the Year (2020), and his past
fellowships include the Animating Museums Fellowship at the Museum of Contemporary
Art Denver (2017). He’s currently an Environmental Justice Fellow for the Black
Midwest Initiative. Through MIDTONES and his own projects, Asa continues to explore how visual storytelling can shape memory, connection, and belonging.
R. Alan Wight, Ph.D., is an environmental sociologist and educator. He is an Associate Professor at The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences and the School and Community Forest Garden Liaison for the University of Cincinnati (UC). He teaches Fruit and Nut Production at Cincinnati State Technical & Community College and Hops & History for UC’s Horticulture Program. Alan has chronicled the Cincinnati regional food movement, working with the Green Umbrella’s Food Policy Council and other partners. His recent publication, a beautiful coffee table book, Cincinnati’s Foodshed: An Art Atlas.
This webinar is open and free to attend, but registration is required. Questions? Please contact Mollie Young at youngmr@miamioh.edu.
The views expressed by presenters are their own and their appearance in a program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Miami University Alumni Association.