At one point, the greenhouse in Elkins Park had been abandoned for so long, the overgrowth inside hung from the ceilings and spilled out of missing window panes, obscuring sunlight from breaking through. Now, light floods through its glass again, panels etched with the faces of gun violence victims, repurposed into a project that calls itself House of the Living.
The name draws inspiration from The Book of the Living in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. In the novel, the protagonist has created a belief system from which she spreads word of central tenets — such as every person’s ability to effect change, the importance of community, and revisioning a better tomorrow. House of the Living founder and Associate Professor of Art at Swarthmore College, Ron Tarver, says the idea of turning the greenhouse into a memorial for gun violence victims came to him while walking by…
