I was born and raised a Black woman. In the South. The American South. To African immigrants.

Exclusion fiercely shapes my psychology.

I entered the field of landscape architecture.

The first step was to wrestle with the word “land.”

Most people who look like me have a long history of working on it.

Many, still, do not own it.

Fewer have the power to shape it consciously and call it their profession.

Last year I traveled to my mother’s village. By camel. I somehow belonged.

Her eyes told me I did.

Sara Zewde

Sara Zewde is a landscape designer, practicing at the intersection of landscape, urbanism, and public art. Sara holds a master’s of landscape architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a master’s of city planning from MIT, and a BA in sociology from Boston University. sarazewde.com