One Year of What’s Growing at Moakley Park

As we come upon a year of What’s Growing at Moakley Park, we’re looking back at how the installation came together, from the community members who helped create it to the movement it inspired at its opening celebration.

The exhibit started back in October 2024, when Boston Harbor Now’s Senior Manager of Community Engagement, Jaye Meakem, met Pamela Moulton, also known as Posey, at one of Posey’s other art installations, Pinkies.

With shared values of salvaging materials and creating art that cultivates joy, education, connections, and curiosity, the two formed a bond with the goal of bringing a community-based project to Moakley Park that could highlight Boston Harbor and New England marine species.

After an initial design was created and approved by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, Posey began building the individual pieces using discarded nets, ropes, and plastics from Boston Harbor. For seven weeks, Posey worked with the community to evolve the creatures at eight events from Southie Summer Nights to Olliepalooza and weekly fiber arts classes with the West Broadway Task Force. You could always find attendees of all ages happily chatting as they unbraided fishing rope and then reknotted or crocheted with it. The community’s involvement shaped everything from the colors and shapes to various ways of highlighting creatures.

Towards the end of summer 2025, Posey and neighbors from the final Southie Summer Night began the fence installation with the sand dollar. From there Mercy and Lauren from South Boston en Acción and Jaye joined in to help the starfish and lobster find their homes above the rubber tire base.

Seeing spaces where more could be added, Posey went back to her studio and created more sea grass along with watery blue swirls and brightly colored rope barnacles. At the end of October, I joined Posey’s son Matice and the rest of the crew to install all of Posey’s new creations. This filled the fence and brought attention to the little creatures hidden within.

As the artwork itself was taking shape, it was also inspiring another kind of creative collaboration.

Throughout the summer, I got the opportunity to connect with Posey over our shared interest in dance. On top of being a visual artist, you can see in her archive pictures of her creations used in dance pieces, as she used to choreograph and collaborate with youth groups and young adults.

I shared my passion and experience with dancing in Boston and finding the intersection of community work and dance, and she encouraged me to make a piece with What’s Growing at Moakley Park. From there, I gathered my friends who I knew would also be inspired by artwork rooted in community and environmental sustainability, and we went to work building a score that would allow us to explore the installation.

Since the artwork itself was built by people in the neighborhood and grew as different ideas came in, I wanted to create something that allowed for that same openness to change. That’s why I knew I wanted to create an improvisational piece that allowed for the dancers to choose in the moment what they wanted to explore and highlight in the installation.

On October 25, the mural was officially opened and celebrated with the co-creators, friends and family of Posey and Boston Harbor Now, folks lingering from the Moakley Park Clean Up, and neighbors passing by. Everyone had the opportunity to explore the artwork and interact with elements like the movable snapping shrimp. Attendees were also encouraged to design rubber tires as they enjoyed the beautiful fall day, with the sun glowing through the mural.

Now, as we come upon almost a year of the project, I have had the opportunity to see the artwork throughout all four seasons, covered in leaves, snow, rain, and sunshine, and it makes me excited to see other ways that people and the park interact with this community-built installation.

What’s Growing at Moakley Park is a representation of how we all have agency to build something beautiful with our neighbors that showcases what we value. This mural shows that the people of South Boston care about their waterfront, and about supporting each other. 

I hope that when people experience this community creation, they consider how they can be more connected in their ecosystem of neighbors and friends (animal, plant, and human). 

The greenspaces in the city are perfect places to build those connections, as they are there for relaxation and environmental relief but also to spark creativity and foster community involvement.

There are opportunities already scheduled that encourage connections exactly like that – from the Moakley Park Clean Ups on September 26th and October 17th, where you can help beautify the park by planting pollinator gardens and bulbs, to getting involved in the Moakley Park Redevelopment to help shape the future of the park. 

As all the contributors to What’s Growing at Moakley Park can attest to, investing in your community matters, and whether your contribution is large or small, the impact will ripple farther than you may imagine.