Artists in Residence in the Everglades (AIRIE), in partnership with the Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), will host its inaugural Art + Environment Summit on Friday, December 2nd during Miami Art Week.

This free event focuses on the ways artists are engaging diverse audiences in environmental issues and making the outdoors a space of belonging for all. The summit will highlight artists delving into discussions and narratives of identity, land stewardship, and racial justice through their artistic practices.

“Artists have a unique ability to engage communities on the future of our environment. With the summit, we want to create a space that brings together artists and the organizations dedicated to these issues so critical to South Florida, so we can work together for a more just and sustainable future,” said Evette Alexander, executive director, AIRIE.

“Solution Hole (TBC)” by Lola Flash. 2022
“In is the same way out” by Nadia Huggins. Circa No Future, 2019.

The event kicks off with “Land & Lineage,” a conversation on the role artists, cultural organizations and environmental advocacy groups play in engaging communities. Artist and December AIRIE Fellow Germane Barnes, Rev. Houston Cypress of the Love the Everglades Movement, Tatiana Mouarbes from the Open Society Foundation and Adam Ganuza of Knight Foundation will participate as speakers.

AIRIE will also unveil “Passages,” a site-specific, immersive installation designed by artist Cornelius Tulloch that uses art and technology to bring the Everglades and the work of AIRIE Fellows to Miami. This collaborative work, a preview of a work that will be part of a new AIRIE exhibition in 2023, will immerse participants in the sights and sounds of Everglades National Park, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States.

Tulloch, Cornelius. *Sunrise Sunset*. 2022, photograph.

The event closes out with “Environmental Futures,” a curated lunch and conversation with prominent black women photographers, led by Women Photographers International Archive. Artists featured include Nadia Huggins and Lola Flash, and WOPHA Founder & Director Aldeide Delgado. The panel will respond to the question “How do women photographers imagine environmental futures?” while reflecting on Afrofuturism and the artists’ recent creative work.

“WOPHA has conceptualized a program centered on women, photography, afro-indigenous futurism, and climate change. Through this partnership, we seek to start a conversation that supports AIRIE’s mission of empowering artists to think creatively and critically about their relationship to the environment by focusing on the experiences of Black and Latinx women photographers,” said Delgado.