Islands of LA is collaborating with Fallen Fruit on a project called Love Apples, more commonly known as tomotoes. Love Apples have a rich history coming originally from South America. They have been thought of as aphrodisiacs and were called Pomme d’Amore by the French. Thomas Jefferson cultivated tomatoes at Monticello and, in Los Angeles, it was common in some areas to plant tomatoes in toilet bowls that were discarded on the street. We continue this rich history of tomato colonization and the gesture of planting productive, fruit-bearing plants in the left over public spaces by planting them on traffic islands, a new urban archipelago.

This project is an art-social experiment that explores how we can use available public space in a responsible and engaging manner to plant fruit bearing plants. The project re-imagines the use of available public space, which is central to both Fallen Fruit and Islands of LA. On May 5th, 2008, we began planting tomato plants on traffic islands in Los Angeles as an art experiment. David & Matias potted up the tomatoes for several weeks to allow them to grow some nice roots before being installed into the islands. Planting will continue for the next few weeks. On August 17 from 3-7pm we held a SALSA SALSA festival at Farmlab. For updates and to be invited, please join the mailing list.

Fallen Fruit is “an activist art project which started as a mapping of all the public fruit in our neighborhood…. Our goal is to get people thinking about the life and vitality of our neighborhoods and to consider how we can change the dynamic of our cities and common values.”

An archive is available of Love Apples including the replanting of tomato plants with the L.A.’s Department of Public Works.