On October 20, in a cityscape dominated by steel, glass, and sprawling concrete, the Oreades Press “Seed Mapping: Urban Planting Through Digital Cartography” workshop invited participants to reconnect with urban ecology, beginning with the simple yet powerful act of planting seeds. Held at UAAD Fest in SoHo, NYC, the workshop offered an intimate space for creating seed packets made from soil and native pollinator seeds and mapping them through a shared app. The workshop was rooted in the legacy of the Green Guerillas, a movement that began in the early 1970s when a small group of New Yorkers transformed vacant lots into vibrant community gardens. Just as the Green Guerillas use seeded “green-aids” in an act of civil disobedience to convert barren land into collaborative gardens, Oreades Press’s workshop urges participants to see the city not as separate from nature but as a landscape where human and nonhuman lives intertwine.
About Oreades Press
Oreades Press has created art and publications that celebrate the intricate connections between humans and nature since it was founded in 2014 by Rachel TonThat and Irene Lee. Originally producing handbound books made from natural materials and featuring diverse artists, the press soon expanded to community projects, such as Impermanent Earth, a digital platform documenting local stories of climate change and urban encroachment worldwide.
Oreades Press prioritizes digital accessibility, offering e-books like Lost Cities, which explores transformed urban landscapes, and making scanned copies of Six Endings and Some Beginnings available online. Beyond publishing, they host readings, workshops, and discussions that encourage people to explore their roles in environmental care. Their goal is to foster a collective, creative approach to facing climate challenges together. Through these projects, Oreades Press reimagines the relationship between art and ecology, highlighting a vision of shared responsibility and kinship.
Six Endings and Some Beginnings. Image Courtesy of Oreades Press.
Planting, Mapping, and Reframing How We See Urban Life
The workshop invited participants to step out of their usual rhythms and engage in a new way of noticing and connecting with urban spaces. It began with a look back at previous publications including Impermanent Earth, the digital archive by Oreades Press that, from 2020 to 2023, collected personal observations of our changing world. This platform set the stage, encouraging participants to reflect on how climate change and human activity are transforming spaces of personal significance. From there, the group explored concepts of seed dormancy, germination, and the resilient symbiotic relationships between urban flora and wildlife, such as the owlet moth and witch hazel. They then molded soil, paper paste, and native seeds into balls, crafting small packets of possibility to be scattered and archived across neglected patches in the neighborhood.
Making Seed Packets. Image Courtesy of Ziwei Ji.
With the seed packets in hand, the group walked through quiet green spaces like Albert Capsouto Park and Duarte Square, tiny pockets of life that hold their own amidst the city’s density. Each spot with planted seeds was marked on a shared map on the Mapstr app, encouraging participants to track these plantings over time or reference where other people have planted. Workshop participants and future collaborators can follow @rl.tonthat on Mapstr to add their own contributions, helping this living archive grow.
Planting Seed Packets in NYC Green Spaces. Image Courtesy of Ziwei Ji.
After planting, the group reflected on how planting and archiving the seeds reframe their understanding of urban ecology and how documenting these locations changes their personal engagement with these spaces.
The Seed Mapping Workshop demonstrates that technology can be a soft, connective tissue between us and the natural world, a way to remember and return to these places as they grow.
It builds virtual communities around specific locations; in archiving these plantings, participants transform preservation into an act of communal nurturing. This reframing asks them to view urban land not as something to be claimed or subdued but as a partner in the rhythms of urban life. Each seed, each marker on the map, becomes a testament to this quiet commitment—a reminder that cities, too, are places of kinship, made alive by small, patient acts of care that reach toward a more rooted and connected future.
For more of Oreades Press’s work and updates, please visit:
Website: www.oreadespress.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/oreadespress/
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