Jason Botkin
Broken plaster scattered across a sidewalk beside a freshly painted wall, a red push broom and a long wooden plank resting among the debris.
Broken plaster scattered across a sidewalk beside a freshly painted wall, a red push broom and a long wooden plank resting among the debris.

Stewardship Precedes Ownership

Responsibility does not wait for ownership.

I’ve often worked in places that did not belong to me.

Schools. Parks. City streets.

Schools. Parks. City streets.



A guest in public space, where stories belong to all and none.

Life there continues long after I’m gone.

Ownership is often treated as the beginning of responsibility, though personal experience suggests otherwise.

Responsibility begins long before ownership ever enters the frame.

Care for a place extends beyond those who own it.

Those who pick up litter no one asked them to collect, shovel the sidewalks of another, or introduce neighbours to one another.

Their stewardship requires no title.

The same is true of culture.

We inherit languages we did not create, stories we did not write, institutions we did not build, and landscapes we did not form.

We inherit languages we did not create, stories we did not write, institutions we did not build, and landscapes we did not form.



Our first obligation is stewardship.

A mural does not force people to care about a place.
But genuine care often transforms the mural.

My responsibility begins with recognizing the care already present.


That care helps shape the mural
making visible a relationship that already exists.

Perhaps this is true of every commons.

Belonging extends beyond what we can call our own.

Belonging extends beyond what we can call our own.

It grows through care for one another and the places we share.

It grows through care for one another and the places we share.

© Jason Botkin

Contact ↗

Back to top ↑