Art and Ecology: In the Spirit of the Suffragettes is a NATURE LAB residency program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, for women artists representing a diversity of races and cultures. We’ll bring history alive through the trans-disciplinary field of bio-art. Integrating art and biology, installation and multimedia, visual arts and performance, these new forms of artistic expression pose ethical, social and philosophical questions about our rapidly changing ecosystem. Positioning the suffragettes as important role models to explore the devastating effects of gender, racial and economic bias on our biodiversity and ecosystems, the artists offer creative calls to action for ecological justice and survival of Mother Earth.
Women artists and artists of color continue to face pervasive under-representation in museums and galleries. This project is in protest of this discrimination—even the new field of bio-arts is male-dominated. We will showcase global artists who demonstrate the present-day creative power of women working together. The century-old suffragette message needs to be heard: women bear the brunt of economic inequality and ecological devastation. These residencies will give voice to inequities, and our struggle for the environmental health of our community and wide world.
Through intersections of art, science and social practice, each artist will develop a project to advance research, produce creative content, and help our surrounding community. Opportunities include creating public art, workshops and/or presentations and exhibitions, producing video and radio productions, designing art walks and bio-art curricular resources.
These residencies will inaugurate our new NATURE Lab Urban Environmental Arts & Education Center.
