Sanctum

Parks are sacred spaces for Black communities, and in challenging times they serve as islands of calm amidst the chaos.

Case in point is Magic Johnson Park in the unincorporated Los Angeles County community of Willowbrook. During the summer of 2020 – in the midst of a global pandemic, civil unrest, and pivotal Presidential election – the initial phase of transforming the park into a model of environmental sustainability and resilience neared completion.

This 6-½ minute video was conceived by one of the landscape architects leading the project, as a means of documenting this historic moment by asking Willowbrook residents why parks – and specifically Magic Johnson Park – are important. The result is an innovative and powerful spiritual expression of the meaning of parks and open space to urban communities.

Willowbrook, a community within Los Angeles County, centers around Magic Johnson Park—a 120-acre parcel that, as open space became much more urgently needed in the face of the global pandemic, brought outsized importance to the site’s revitalization efforts. A member of the landscape architecture team working on the project developed this 6 ½-minute documentary video in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, combining voices from the community with ethereal, aerial drone footage of the park. “Parks and open space represent equity: economic, physical, and social equity,” Rev. Dawnesha Beaver, one such community voice, proclaims. “Parks show that a community is valued.” In concert with other voices, the significance of landscape to the residents who interact with it resonates with emotion.
ASLA 2021 Awards Jury

2020
Short
U.S.A.
English
7 minutes
Evan Mather

Winner: ASLA 2021 Professional Awards: Honor Award, Communications.

Runner-Up: On The Screen, 2023 A+D Museum Awards.