Art, Climate Crisis, and Activism

Presented in
conjunction with Take Care, this
discussion will explore the intersection of the climate crisis, environmental
justice, and creative practice. Artworks will provide starting points in
examining industry, government, and the museums’ institutional reckoning with
the climate crisis.

Moderated
by April Brown, Interim Director, Racial and Environmental Justice Committee, the
discussion will feature
artists Meredith Stern, Dana Heng, and Erik Gould with Dr. Sage Gerson, Assistant
Professor, Literary Arts and Studies, RISD and Dr. Hilda
Lloréns, Associate Professor, Departments of Marine Affairs and Anthropology,
University of Rhode Island.

Free. To attend this in-person program, please
register below.

https://48203.blackbaudhosting.com/48203/Art-Climate-Crisis-and-Activism

April Brown is an educator, artist, ordained minister, and Interim
Director of the Racial and
Environmental Justice Committee (REJC) of Providence. The REFC is a
collaborative initiative by the City of Providence and its frontline
communities of color bring a racial equity lens to the City’s sustainability
agenda. The REJC developed the Just Providence Framework, the City’s climate
justice plan, and implementation of the City’s Green Justice Zones. Ms. Brown
holds a B.A. from the American University in Washington, DC, and a Master’s in
Education from the University of Rhode Island. 

Meredith Stern obtained
a BFA in Ceramics at Tulane University in New Orleans. She is a member of the
international printmaking group called The Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and
has a multi-faceted practice that includes printmaking, ‘zine publishing,
gardening, and utilitarian ceramic ware.

Dana Heng,
multidisciplinary artist and educator living in Providence, RI. She graduated
with a BA in Sociology & Studio Art from the University of Vermont in 2015.
She is a co-founder of Binch Press and is an artist mentor at New Urban Arts.

Erik Gould is
the museum photographer for the RISD Museum and an actively exhibiting fine art
photographer. He received his Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Photography from
Ohio University and a B.A. in studio art at SUNY Geneseo. He also holds a
certificate in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has
exhibited his work throughout New England, including exhibitions at
Photographic Resource Center in Boston, Hera Gallery and AS220, among others.

Sage Gerson, Assistant
Professor, Literary Arts and Studies, RISD researches and teaches in the fields
of Indigenous literatures and ecologies; environmental justice and anticolonial
environmentalisms; 20th- and 21st-century literature; the energy humanities and
infrastructure studies; Native, Black and Women of Color feminisms; and
futurisms, futurity, and speculative fiction. Dr. Gerson received a Ph.D. from
the University of California, Santa Barbara and a B.A. from the University of
Chicago.

Hilda Lloréns, Associate
Professor, Departments of Marine Affairs and Anthropology, URI is a
cultural anthropologist and a decolonial scholar focused on understanding how
racial and gender inequality manifest itself in cultural production, nation
building, access to environmental resources, and exposure to environmental
degradation. Dr. Lloréns’ research has been centrally concerned with critiquing
structural inequalities and dismantling taken for granted notions of power and
holds a Ph.D. and M.A in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut and a
B.A. in Sociology from Eastern Connecticut State University.