Urban Farmers. The now (and how) of growing food in the city
A book by Valery Rizzo documenting urban agriculture around the world
Interview by Gaia Lamperti
Domus
17 May 2021
Author: Valery Rizzo
Publisher: Gestalten
April 2021
Valery Rizzo is an American portrait, food, and lifestyle photographer whose work centers around urban life and agriculture. She has been featured in The New York Times Style Magazine, Yes! Magazine, Télérama, D La Repubblica, Der Spiegel, and several other esteemed publications.
Excerpt:
The process started with the interest from Gestalten in exploring my idea for a book on urban agriculture around the world, just days before the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in New York City, in February 2020. I started by widely researching on about 60 farms, and Gestalten’s Editor Andrea Servert came up with a possible structure for the book of 5 case studies: 6 profiles, 7 features, 4 guest essays, a 12 term glossary and a 5 part DIY section.
From initial interest to press it took about a year. Since we were producing this book during a global pandemic, I planned to shoot 80% of the photography for the book and then source the rest from other photographers I greatly admire.
The cities included are New York, Paris, Berlin, Cirebon, Detroit, Antwerp, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Denmark, Amsterdam, Havana, Mexico City, Nairobi, Melbourne, Los Angeles, Curitiba, Montreal, Hong Kong, Brussels, London, Seattle and Tokyo, among others. Some of the subjects were already part of my larger existing body of urban agricultural work, while others were found collectively through various other means of research. Our goal was to make the book as diverse as possible by way of location as well as unique farming practices and to highlight the people doing important and exciting work.
