Beyond the Plot is a historical, material, and embodied long-term investigation into concepts of control and resistance in agriculture. The title plays on the word “plot,” referring both to an enclosed area of land and the structure of a narrative. Departing from this point, the work investigates the delimitations of land and thought imposed by extractivist USDA policy, alongside the everyday forms of resistance enacted by small-scale farmers and land-based cultivation groups against imperial agricultural systems.

The first phase of this long-term project, documented here, critically examines the ideologies that have informed food systems and agricultural production in the United States. Rooted in relational and site-spe- cific methodologies, it draws on conversations and collaborations with farmers whose practices are deeply impacted by the Farm Bill and by broader historical legacies of land dispossession. Material and artistic interventions—such as the reinterpretation of land surveying tools—transform abstract legal and policy language into tangible forms, inviting public engagement and critical reflection.

Through an approach combining historical research, material practice, and public programming, the thesis aims to make visible the power dynamics embedded in land policy. Ultimately, “Beyond the Plot” gestures toward the possibility of stepping outside the frameworks imposed by extractive narratives, and instead imagining structures that support more socially and racially just forms of food cultivation.