Sinking Feeling

In synch with rising sea levels, artists are increasingly attuned to the sinking feeling of catastrophe. Water surrounding the metropolis of Miami – designated within North America as “ground zero” for the impending peril it faces from warming waters and flooding – is projected to surge two feet in less than forty years. This exhibition includes work by five artists who tap into this ominous pulse, which, in a cynical twist, coincides with Miami’s designation as the most unaffordable city in the United States. This gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America, popularly dubbed the “Magic City,” is pitched as an ever-expanding, touristic, tropical paradise, even as the drenching effects of global warming loom. The poetic and poignant artworks included here hone in on the inseparability of the actualities of the climate crisis from everyday lived realities and formative histories. Parallels to the increasing vulnerabilities of other coastal cities, such as Vancouver, can be gleaned. Combining references to the transformational role that water plays in our survival and potential demise, the lens-based works in Sinking Feeling are as much about immersion and reflection as creating a rising tide of interconnected awareness and environmental justice.

Sinking Feeling includes work by Eddie Arroyo, Claudio Nolasco, Jamilah Sabur, Erin Thurlow, and Antonia Wright.