In 2002, organiser jackie sumell launched Herman’s House; a collaborative exhibition, book, Emmy Award-winning film and advocacy campaign. She started the project with political prisoner Herman Wallace, a member of the “Angola 3” who spent 41 years in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit.
.
Just three days after his conviction was overturned and he was released in 2013, Wallace died of liver cancer in New Orleans at the age of 71. “I ask you not to let the tragedy eclipse the miracle,” sumell says. “Herman died free, innocent in the eyes of the law, and surrounded by those of us who loved him most.”
.
Fueled by the desire to keep Wallace’s legacy alive, sumell embarked onThe Solitary Gardens, a project inspired by a 2006 letter from Wallace in which he described his dream garden replete with gardenias, carnations, and tulips. “This is of the utmost importance,” Wallace wrote sumell. “I would like for guests to be able to smile and walk through flowers all year long.”
.
.
