About This Project
COVID-Climate Implosion:
This project was a collaborative effort between artists and activists who are interested in better understanding and illustrating the many hidden dimensions and intersections between climate change, environmental justice and the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants in the project researched COVID-19 through the lens of environmental justice, climate change and ecology in order to unearth, better understand, and amplify hidden connections between current events and the ecological crisis. We explored the impacts of underlying systems, and to underscore, unpack and bring clarity to the myriad of issues raised by COVID-19.
In short, we worked to answer the questions: how does the world live with climate change and COVID-19, and how do these topics “live” in the world around us? This project then transformed a collective body of research into a creative representation that invites people into conversation while generating a deeper understanding of the world around us. This project prioritized a collaborative effort to gather and synthesize knowledge and conversation, and acted as a space of discovery, allowing participants to reflect on underlying systems and imagine, as a group, what transformations are possible.
Methodology:
“Any interesting being…can—and often should—be teased open to show the sticky economic, technical, political, organic, historical, mythic, and textual threads that make up its tissues.” — Donna Haraway
The ‘implosion’ is a unique and fascinating research method for exploring hidden connections and complexities, pioneered and developed by professor Donna Haraway. Those who have found value in this method include educators, researchers, scientists, engineers, systems thinkers, activists hoping to sharpen their analysis of systems of oppression, and many others.
Led by:
Margaret Kearney, Shari Hersh and Ron Whyte
With Artists and Activists Co-Creators:
- Avery Broughton
- Timell Floyd-Sherard
- Breighton Golphin
- Chris Honahnie
- Eurhi Jones
- Gamar Markarian
- Kyla van Buren
Additional drawings by:
- Merletta Matthews
- Adriana Moran Garcia
Website Design:
Funders:
- City of Philadelphia
- Independent Media
- JPB Foundation
Project Management:
- Margaret Kearney
- Shari Hersh
A project of the Mural Arts Philadelphia, Environmental Justice Department
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Contact:
Questions, comments, or concerns? Email us