Project by Bernardo Malatesta
Sinapis Alba is a project that uses research, endowment documents, and targeted design interventions to link three Highbridge sites to Taqwa Community Farm and into a shared system of ecological and religious stewardship. It reimagines the rootedness of community gardens by establishing a waqf that binds Taqwa Community Farm to P.S. 73, the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx, and the adjacent vacant lot at 979 Ogden Avenue, countering the pressure of pending luxury development. Grounded in the mustard plant (Sinapis Alba), focused on the ground, and consistent in depaving and growing; the project organizes these sites into a cycle of cultivation, worship, education, and soil remediation. Mustard seeds processed at Taqwa circulate among students, worshippers, and gardeners, creating a durable structure for food access, youth learning, and long-term community control of land.
