2020
Single Channel Video
3 min. 30 sec.
Edition of 5
Climate Immigrants (2017-Present) is an ongoing site specific installation, video, and performance that considers the impending plight of climate induced global migration and its effects on people of color. In it the performers wear “Climate Ponchos” adorned with images depicting the archetype of the “traveler”. The subjects are portrayed while in unilateral transition, wearing backpacks and hats, carrying suitcases and holding children. The viewer witnesses the silent movements of anonymous persons in context with sound and video which conceptualizes the nuanced experience of migrant travel that is initiated by climate change and environmental injustice. The series expands upon issues of immigration by creating a framework that implicates everyone and not just a select group, addressing one of the most pressing topics of our time: climate- triggered immigration in relation to US-centric xenophobia.
The Climate Immigrants debuted at The Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in the summer of 2017. Since then the series has traveled to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Athens School of Fine Arts, The Walters Art Museum, Siren Arts, The Reach at The Kennedy Center, and the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building.
Included with the work
Certificate of Authenticity, hard drive
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