A huge congratulations to Studio Gallery artist Lynda Andrews-Barry, who was chosen as one of nine prestigious Environmental Justice Artivist Fellows!
Read below to learn more about Andrews-Barry and this important Fellowship program.
“2024 Environmental Justice Artivist Fellowship® Empowers Artists to Drive Change In Climate
Social Art and Culture, in collaboration with the Arts Program at the Aspen, pioneered a sustainable framework where artivists impact climate change in DC.”
Fungi (Russula emetica) by Lynda Andrews-Barry
Image of the nine 2024 Environmental Justice Artivist Fellows (Lynda Andrews-Barry at bottom left) (credit: EIN Presswire & ABC27)
Power Plant by Lynda Andrews-Barry
“WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, February 22, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In response to NASA's alarming findings regarding record-breaking temperatures in the summer of 2023, the Fifth National Climate Assessment showing D.C. region climate risks, and the recent release of Carbon Free DC strategy, Social Art and Culture, in collaboration with the Arts Program at the Aspen, is pioneering a sustainable economic framework where artivists play a pivotal role alongside scientists, researchers, and climate experts to confront the impacts of climate change and environmental injustice in the District. This dynamic call to action manifested in the Environmental Justice Artivist Fellowship® 2024 (EJA Fellowship).
Karen Baker, Co-Founder and Board President of Social Art and Culture, articulates the mission: “We plan to address the most fragile ecosystems in the DC Wards 5, 7, and 8 by using art as a strategy for science communication, a vehicle for equitable social change and social good. Art is intertwined with activism, emphasizing the indispensable role of artists in amplifying marginalized voices and catalyzing transformative action is required now more than ever.” She further emphasizes that Artivists' seats at the table in these conversations have been missing, highlighting their need for the resources, research, funding, and data to be stewards of culture and climate.
Nine distinguished fellows have been selected to lead this transformative endeavor, encompassing diverse artistic disciplines and expertise. Under the theme of Community Resilience, these fellows will collaborate over nine months [March 11-November 14, 2024] to develop innovative approaches to climate and environmental justice through artistic practice. Their focus areas include Clean Air, Water Quality and Safety, Clean Energy, Equity in Food Systems, and Land Pollution and Waste to deliver impactful capstone projects alongside engaging residents of Wards 5, 7, and 8.”
The Deadzone by Lynda Andrews-Barry
Specimen Shadowboxes by Lynda Andrews-Barry
"Artists are vital voices in the conversation about climate change," said Aspen Institute’s Vice President of Policy Programs and Director of the Arts Program, Danielle Baussan. "The work of these artists and others reveals the fate of inaction, and the future we should all strive toward. Through our collaboration with Social Art and Culture, these Artivist Fellows will have the platform to directly engage with leading policy across a broad spectrum of climate solutions."
Meet the nine fellows leading this charge for change. Noël Kassewitz, Visual Artist, Leonina Arismendi, Multi-Disciplinary Artist, Lynda Andrews-Barry, Artist, Murat Cem Mengüç, Ph.D., Artist, Billy Frieble, Multimedia Visual Artist, Sherri Roberts Lumpkin, Doll-maker / Mix-Media Collage, Stephanie Garon, Environmental Artist, Melani N. Douglass, Curator/ Socially Engaged Artist, and Jaren Hill Lockridge, Community Storyteller + Memory Keeper.
The fellowship's significance is further underscored by support from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, East Arts grant. “Artists for years have been a catalyst for social justice, be it racial, educational, or environmental. The activism of the artist has always magnified injustices primarily in our marginalized communities,” said Aaron Myers, Executive Director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. “Our Commission is proud to support this fellowship in an effort to cultivate more artists who will enter the fight for social change,” Director Myers added.
Karen Baker
Social Art and Culture
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director@socialartandculture.info
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Article by Karen Baker, ABC27 (Social Art and Culture). News provided by EIN Presswire. February 2024. Thank you!
About Lynda Andrews-Barry
Lynda Andrews-Barry. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
Lynda Andrews-Barry is a Multi-Disciplinary artist represented by Studio Gallery, Washington D.C.’s longest-running artist cooperative. Lynda works with themes such as the environment, humanity, and the digital age we live in.
Artist’s statement:
“I am interested in line, color, space, and audience. My artistic practice explores the integration of the natural and digital worlds, and employs contemporary computer aided design tools paired with the traditional conceptual techniques of drawing, painting, sewing, photography, and hand fabrication. My work asserts the craft-based primacy of the handmade, grounding itself in the modern world of technology.
I am currently incorporating digital media installations, video projections and sculpture into experimental groups of narratives which juxtapose the natural environment with the assembled one. I generate ideas for these projects through research and site visits, and attempt to showcase local environs in an unexpected format. Giving a voice to things often considered mundane allows me to combine storytelling with my skills as a designer, fabricator, and tech geek.
My compositions address power dynamics, conflict, loss, marginalization and deterioration. Through referencing the natural processes of dissolution, this work reflects aspects of existence on the edge of potential demise. I am attempting to reflect the often hidden or ignored ephemeral beauty in our shared environment, sometimes referred to as the “Humble Sublime.” By investigating how the relationships of ones’ actions affect the surrounding human landscape, I am expressing my deep concerns about our rapidly declining commonality.”
Andrews-Barry’s Recent Solo Exhibit “Petrichor”
(March/April 2023)
Show statement: The word “Petrichor” describes the scent of The Earth after a warm rain: it is the essence that reminds us of our deep connection to Our Planet. Petrichor investigates the effects of entropy on our environment by displaying its physical vulnerabilities to underscore the delicate nature of our surrounding ecosystems. Through referencing the natural processes of dissolution, Petrichor reflects aspects of an existence on the edge of potential demise. The possibility of a future with only remnants of The Earth is real. Petrichor predicts the future of our natural world to be a manmade place where fabricated tableaux memorialize the once common but now extinct. The intent of Petrichor is to raise awareness about the impact of our actions on our personal environments and beyond. With the looming reality of the Earth’s imminent collapse, Petrichor encourages conversations that will animate citizens to engage emotionally to internalize an environmental ethic, and ultimately, truly feel the exigencies of our generation.
Convergence by Lynda Andrews-Barry (Petrichor)
Gone Tomorrow (Crow) by Lynda Andrews-Barry (Petrichor)
Hygrocybe Miniata (Vermilion Waxcap) by Lynda Andrews-Barry (Petrichor)
By Director Halley Sun Stubis.