Terra Soma Collective
I am a co-founder and community artist of Terra Soma Collective, an inclusive, accessible collective exploring the self & community care potential of art & nature for BIPOC, Queer, & Trans folks. We have been dreaming up co-creative, safe spaces with our Boston community for over two years.
My Role
Prioritizing outreach and collaboration, I established and continue to foster community partnerships with Haley House’s Thornton Street Urban Farm, Flora, Fauna, & Fungi Ecological Resource Network, Somerville Community Growing Center, Dear Annie Wine Bar, Lucy Parsons Center, Ula Cafe, and more Boston-based organizations.
Conceptualizing community programming, I focus on the intersection of biology, ecology, expression, & craft
Engaging community members and participants during events
Designing promotional materials using Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, and Canva
Photographing event activities
Managing social media and ticketing by arranging & executing instagram posts, writing copy for captions, and creating engaging content
Executing event set-up and venue communications
Co-Founders
Terra Soma Collective is a dream shared by Isiah Myers, Ro Northrop, Rahul Ramesh, Sylvia Maina, and I. Born from the need for more intentional, community oriented spaces, it has taken many shapes and creative directions. Creating for TSC has had a deep impact on my journey as a designer and community organizer.
Graphics by Lisa Gorelik
Past Events
Queer Social Hour: Chess Club 2.0
Pop-up queer chess night at local wine bar, Dear Annie. Folks got cozy with wine, pescatarian delectables, and conversational chess games.
January 26, 2025 | Photos by Lisa Gorelik
Queer Social Hour: Chess Club
Chess lessons utilizing public park chess tables at Smith Playground in Lower Allston. I led beginner conversational lessons while intermediate and advanced players proctored their own games.
September 25, 2024 | Photos by Lisa Gorelik & Ro Northrop
Earth Day Block Party 2024
At a city licensed block party in Fern Square park, Allston, we celebrated our planet in community with local orgs Sustainable Swaps, Lonely Bones, Public Living Room, and *Junkyard! Attendees danced to local DJs, traded in the community clothing swap, skated with instructors, crafted, learned with Lucy Parsons Center, & so much more! The drinks were sponsored by Yerba Mate.
Terra Soma set up a photo booth for community members to pose with chosen family, partners, best friends or for portraits! As an extra special backdrop, we wove the 2023 Block Party’s activity into a tapestry. To read more about our 2023 activity, reference the Earth Day Block Party 2023 drop-down below. Photos were made accessible to participants after the event.
April 21, 2024
Block Party
Photo Booth
Seed Bombs
As a way of celebrating the Spring Equinox we prepared seed bombs to sow new beginnings and mark the coming of Spring. Guiding folks through the seed bomb making process- assembling clusters of earth and native wildflower seeds- we provided clay, soil/compost, native seedlings, water, and buckets for mixing. Our ecologist & co-founder Sylvia led the workshop and then took attendees on a hike around Scarboro Pond in Franklin Park, Roxbury! We bonded through native seed identification, running from geese, and the sheer exhilaration of throwing dirt!
March 23, 2024 | Photos by Lisa Gorelik & Ro Northrop
Queer Nature Walk
Engaging with one of the city’s most biodiverse and important natural habitats, we hosted a queer nature hike in Mount Auburn Cemetery. Our ecologist & co-founder Sylvia led the hike, focusing the narrative on habitat restoration, sustainability, native plants, and environmental justice. Admiring the changing leaves, conversations spanned ginko tree reproduction, hawk sightings, and how colonial histories inform our Massachusetts landscape today.
October 22, 2024 | Photos by Lisa Gorelik & Ro Northrop
Trans-Centered Photoshoot
To honor and celebrate queer, BIPOC, and trans folks’ beauty, model and co-founder Rahul (they/them) led a trans-centered photoshoot. Rahul and our photographers helped with basic modeling poses, getting comfortable with the camera, and taking photos that highlight and celebrate participant’s vibrance and joy. Photos were taken by local artists Kavya Krishna, Talia Smith, and Ro Northrop.
July 29, 2024
Earth Day Block Party 2023
At our first city licensed block party in Fern Square park, Allston, we celebrated Earth Day with local orgs Sustainable Swaps, Lonely Bones, and Public Living Room. We spent the day in the sun surrounded by laughter, haggling over clothes, dancing to local DJs, and crafting.
Terra Soma invited community members to sit in our cozy living-room-outdoors with layered rugs, coffee tables, and art supplies. Fabric was pre-dyed using black beans, turmeric, beets, and coffee, creating jewel and earth toned palettes to play with. Once seated, folks explored different eco-crafts, creating spud-stamps by carving potatoes and learning about eco-dying with our pre-dyed fabric swatches.
July 15, 2023
Eco Printin’ & Picnic’n
Partnering with Somerville Community Growing Center, we held a cyanotype workshop and garden tour. Participants sustainably foraged in the community garden and used their small cuttings to create patterns on light-reactive paper. We created and provided a take-home TSC cyanotype guide, linked below. Folks left with rain dabbled clothes and bright blue prints to cherish!
We were honored to have our event written up by Betsy Larkin for the growing center’s blog, linked below.
June 17, 2023
TERRA Gallery
We held an open call for local artists to submit to our show; TERRA. We then carefully curated 17 artists’ works, spanning mediums such as photography, textile, & plant matter. We transformed an Allston apartment into a minimal, intentional gallery space, installing artist’s work on the walls and devoting the entrance space to an exhibit of floating plant matter and projected poetry. Our opening reception welcomed over 150 people and our gallery remained open for public viewing for 2 weeks.
April 22, 2023
Lisa Gorelik 