welcome dear one!
Credit: Image taken by Intisar Abioto.
Description: ridhi is leaning against a giant sequoia tree, while wearing a felted hat decorated with a marigold flower and a cedar frond.
my name is ridhi d’cruz (they/them) and i identify as a gender-wild, neurospicy Malayali who grew up in the city of Bangalore in southern India and moved to the unceded lands of the Chinook people (Portland, USA) in 2010 to pursue a graduate program in sociocultural and applied anthropology. Trained as a journalist and anthropologist, i fondly identify as a facilitator, artist and educator. My life artistry roots at the intersections of place, healing, design and creativity. i have dedicated over a decade of my life here on Turtle Island, working with communities to cultivate liberatory processes, projects and places that enrich our belonging to ourselves, to Land and to each other. i strive to honor the Original Peoples as well as their sacred and stolen Lands with whom i am so honored to be deepening relationship with in two continents connected by the Pacific Ocean.
i has been cultivating a place justice practice for over a decade on Chinook lands. Beyond being a co-facilitator and council member of Moon & Mirror Herbal Education Apprenticeship Program since 2020, i’ve been involved in various aligned initiatives including being a nature educator and adventure guide with and for QT/BIPOC community through Wild Diversity since 2022. i have also been curating collaborative place justice installations with memory activists - Vanport Mosaic.
i also humbly supports the urban Indigenous community involved at the Native Gathering Garden at Cully Park since 2012 and also the Black-led initiative Justice for Keaton Otis Memorial Art Project since 2019.
More recently, i’ve has begun organizing with the Oregon Caste Abolition Collective. After over a decade in the field as an urban Permaculture practitioner & educator through my previous work at City Repair Project, i completed my third Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) program and my first Permaculture Teacher Training (PTT) with Aranya Agricultural Alternatives in Jan- Feb 2023. i am excited to be returning to organizing in my homelands. i hope to continue to root into the fertile soil of climate justice and caste abolition work in the lands now called India.
You can reach me via manithottam.timegarden@gmail.com and @timegardening
Take a look at my offerings and upcoming events pages and use the contact form below to get in touch!
image gallery below
little ridhi sitting on an car, wearing a red and white dress.
