Adam Purple and the Garden of Eden

In 1975, on the crime-ridden Lower East Side of New York City, Adam Purple started a garden behind his tenement home at 184 Forsyth Street. By 1986, The Garden of Eden was world famous and had grown to 15,000 square feet, spanning five lots. For Adam - a social activist, philosopher, artist, and revolutionary - The Garden of Eden was the medium of his political and artistic expression. Harvey Wang was one of the few photographers to visit Adam throughout the creation of The Garden of Eden. Wang's photographs may well represent the most complete visual record of this unique, site-specific New York City earthwork/artwork.