Tapestry Opera’s new home on Yonge Street Photo of Alvin Crawford, Xin Wang, Sharmila Dey by John Lauener Photography (courtesy of Theatre Direct & Tapestry) INTERVIEW ─ Michael Mori on the opera “Sanctuary Song”, the first staged production in this new venue Words & Interview by Eva Stone-Barney ISSUE 15 | TORONTO | ANY: TORONTO CANNOPY x Tapestry Opera In December of 2021, Tapestry Opera and Nightwood Theatre announced to their patrons that after nearly 20-years in Toronto’s Distillery Historic District, they were being displaced later that year. This came as a shock to both organisations, and to the other members of the Artscape collective, who were under the impression that their lease was secure until at least 2023. Tapestry and Nightwood appealed to their community. They set out to create a new performance venue in the heart of the city, at 877 Yonge Street, and fund it with the help of their audiences. Their “take a seat” campaign invited donors to contribute $877.00 in exchange for their name on a seat, permanently. In June, they had reached 65% of their goal: at the end of March 2025, they presented their opening concert at the newly named Nancy and Ed Jackman Performance Centre. General Director of Tapestry Opera Michael Mori notes that this milestone would not have been possible without the support they received from the City of Toronto, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. This, along with the individual donations amassed through their campaign, saw them across the finish line. The grassroots nature of their funding scheme has left Mori, and the rest of the Tapestry, to double down on their commitment to their community of artists and arts lovers. This new space is more than just their home – Tapestry will subsidize rental costs, making the space an accessible rehearsal and performance venue for individual artists and smaller companies. Given the high cost of renting space in Toronto, particularly downtown, the significance of this addition to the performance venue landscape cannot be understated. Mori describes the versatility of the room, and explains that it can be set up in various configurations according to the demands of a given performance. The hope is that 877 Yonge becomes something of a sanctuary, minutes away from the Bloor Yonge subway station, in which theatre and classical music will thrive for years to come. How fitting, then, that Tapestry’s first staged production in the space will be none other than their award winning piece, Sanctuary Song . Directed by Mori himself, and featuring Midori Marsh, Alvin Crawford, Elvina Rahara and Courtenay Stevens, Sanctuary Song is the true story of a Sumatran elephant named Sydney, who lives a life in captivity before ultimately being released into an animal sanctuary. Premiered by Tapestry Opera at the Luminato Festival in 2008, Sanctuary Song received an impressive three Dora Award nominations, and won Outstanding New Musical/Opera. It serves as a fine example of what Tapestry does so well: produce new pieces of operatic theatre, which tell human stories in refreshing and unexpected ways. In choosing to open their new artistic “sanctuary” with Sanctuary Song, Tapestry makes a point to welcome opera lovers of all ages into their space. This isn’t a “show for adults”, nor is it an “opera for children” - it is with this kind of come-all programming that opera will survive. As audience numbers dwindle and North American opera companies cut their seasons shorter every year, we are reminded over and over again that doing the same things as we have always done them – the same shows, presented in the same ways, in the same spaces – will guarantee failure. In staying true to their mission, Tapestry will inaugurate this space intended for everyone, with art for everyone – a piece of theatre accessible to audience members of all ages, presented in a format which invites them in, and in a space that they will hopefully return to, time and time again, for art of all different shapes and sizes.

Immersive Klimt Revolution Immersive Klimt Revolution A visit to the new Lighthouse Immersive Exhibit WORDS BY CAMILLA MIKOLAJEWSKA | SAN FRANCISCO | VISUAL ARTS MAR 21, 2023 | ISSUE 4 Immersive Klimt Revolution (IKR) is the latest production from Lighthouse Immersive, the producers that brought audiences Immersive Van Gogh , the 600,000 cubic feet projection that sold over 2.5 million tickets in North America. The exhibit promises a vibrant, electrifying celebration of the life and legacy of Gustav Klimt. Klimt, the Austrian Symbolist painter, has been most connected to the artistic movement Art Nouveau—a gothic style, moving the European art world towards unconventional, organic linear shapes, and psychedelic experimental effects. As black curtains opened and I entered the exhibition, I realized that IKR does now what Art Nouveau did in the 1900s: changing, transcending and transforming traditional ideas of what art

CLEVELAND — AiR TOUR — Issue 8 Kasey Kania CLEVELAND — AiR TOUR — Issue 8 “Sun on a Seabed” by Kasey Kania Kasey Kania sM | One social issue that your art speaks to the most? KK ── A connection to the land. Seeing and feeling the world we inhabit is crucial to understanding ourselves and each other. My own identity is informed by the dense, luscious forests of Northeast Ohio and its surrounding countryside. In creating scenes of this particular landscape, I have discovered connections between myself and others. Images of the land tend to resonate with the people living there; examples of this occur everyday at the exhibit. I often hear, “Where is this?” or, “I know this place!” from onlookers. From there it is only a matter of time before Continue the AiR tour in print: ISSUE 9 | ISSUE 10 Sign Up to K eep Up! Our newsletter brings you the best in the visual and performing arts. Exclusive interviews. Global coverage. Local perspectves. they’re sharing stories from their past or telling me about a new location to explore. The land is hardwired into our cultural heritage and can serve as a point of connection between complete strangers. sM | What inspiration do you get from artists around you? KK ── The work of other artists is essential to cultivating new ideas. I am constantly looking at other peoples’ art, whether in person or on Instagram, and it undoubtedly drags my own work in unexpected directions. Artists do not create in a vacuum! Everyone steals from everyone else, from simple colors to overarching ideas. I’m always searching for new ways to approach a painting; I source a lot of my techniques and processes from other artists. It’s almost impossible for me to not paint more like van Gogh while being constantly confronted by larger than life imagery of his paintings! sM | What is your takeaway from the experience of working in-studio at Immersive Van Gogh Cleveland? KK ── This has been an eye-opening experience. The sheer number of eyes that have been laid on my work is astounding. Just having the ability to sit and talk with strangers about art and their experiences with it is soul-cleansing. I have had the opportunity to not only share my knowledge with others but to learn from them as well. So many people, especially other artists, are more than willing to offer advice and support. It has changed me for the better and shown me just how open and engaging people can be. PREVIOUS NEXT

Kristy Gordon Kristy Gordon by Jeremy Lewis Toronto vs. New York: From a Painter's Perspective WORDS BY MICHAEL ZARATHUS-COOK | TORONTO | VISUAL ARTS NOV 11, 2022 | ISSUE 8 Toronto is often thought of as the New York of Canada, the comparison has some merit as Toronto is also a sprawling city known as a hub of arts and culture. Still, is this a matter of wishful thinking on Ontario’s part? Both Toronto and New York have a diverse and well kept arts-community, thanks in large part to the cafe culture found in these cities. Independent cafes serve as affordable and accessible spaces outside the home for artists to work, often giving newer artists exposure and connections to other artists. To find out just how much these two cities share in their relationships to arts and culture, artist Kristy Gordon—a graduate from Toronto’s OCAD and a New York City resident—joins us to discuss the roles of cafes in facilitating a city’s arts scene.

Ralph Remington Ralph Remington by Kalya Ramu Meet the Cultural Director of the San Francisco Arts Commision WORDS BY EMILY TRACE | SAN FRANCISCO | VISUAL ARTS JUN 13, 2023 | ISSUE 4 Fresh into his new role as the Cultural Director of the San Francisco Arts Commision (SFAC), Ralph Remington reflects on how artists drive a city’s identity and how whitewashed depictions of history can be remedied by centering BIPOC voices. As a former theatre producer, director, and playwright with firsthand experience in how the arts can jumpstart an audience’s empathy system, Ralph seems to be an ideal leader to oversee the payout of basic income to local artists, supply supports for educators operating in a digital environment, and provide much-needed funds for arts organizations through the SFAC’s robust granting apparatus. With a generous background in government, arts leadership, and the non-profit spaces where they make contact, Remington is focused on ensuring that the arts landscape that people return to is significantly more vital and equitable than they left it.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason Brings His Elgar to the Toronto Symphony Danforth Music Hall - Photo by Miles Forrester The celebrated cellist delivers some KANNEH-MAGIC WORDS BY EMMA SCHMIEDECKE | Roy Thomson Hall JAN 21, 2023 | COMMUNITY In a 100th anniversary celebration season full of guest stars and eclectic programming, audiences were treated to an evening in Great Britain (with a splash of Canada) at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) this past weekend in Roy Thomson Hall. The program consisted of Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis for String Orchestra, the world premiere of Canadian composer Gary Kulesha’s Symphony No. 4, and Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, performed by string star Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Nearly the entire program was British-centric: a British opener and a British concerto presented by a British conductor (conductor emeritus Peter Oundjian) and a British soloist. The evening began with Vaughan-Williams’ beautiful Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, a tragically underplayed work outside of its native England. The piece got the audience into the British sound world of sweeping melodies, open harmonies, and string writing of the most satisfying kind, and the orchestra delivered on all three.

NEW YORK — AiR TOUR — Issue 8 Jiggy Puzzles - Kaylin Marcotte NEW YORK — AiR TOUR — Issue 8 Jiggy Puzzles Kaylin Marcotte sM | What inspired the creation of Jiggy puzzles? KM ── Five years ago, I was working around the clock at an early startup and fell in love with jigsaw puzzles as my nightly meditation. I was doing one every week and the stress relief was great, but the designs were outdated and uninspired. I started dreaming up a puzzle that would be beautiful for both the doing and the decorating, that would look good before, during and after completion. Conceived as a way to elevate the classic jigsaw, JIGGY features art by female artists around the world (who get a percentage of every sale), chic packaging, and puzzle glue to Continue the AiR tour in print: ISSUE 9 | ISSUE 10 Sign Up to K eep Up! Our newsletter brings you the best in the visual and performing arts. Exclusive interviews. Global coverage. Local perspectves. preserve your masterpiece for framing. I hope JIGGY inspires people to unplug and experience art in a whole new way, in pieces. sM | What do you hope to accomplish in your residency? KM ── We are so excited to bring some of our local JIGGY artists into the incredible Immersive Van Gogh space to create art on such a unique vehicle—a puzzle! We are both so aligned in our missions of inspiring people to experience art in a whole new way, and to empower artists, so this is a very organic partnership for us. We hope to honor the work of van Gogh with our artists creating original pieces inspired by him, bringing an interactive and modern touch to the experience, and giving emerging artists a platform to showcase their work. sM | How would you describe the therapeutic experience of putting together a puzzle? KM ── Putting together a puzzle is completely consuming for me; I get lost in it, in the best way. It makes me forget the urge to check my phone, quiets all the loud, busy distractions we’re all surrounded by, and really centers me. There’s something about the analog, tactile nature of building something with your hands, piece by piece, that feels both relaxing and rewarding. There are also studies connecting puzzles with improved memory, sleep, decreased chances of dementia and more, so I think everyone can benefit from making them a habit! PREVIOUS NEXT

DENVER — AiR TOUR — Issue 10 Xtna d’Luna DENVER — AiR TOUR — Issue 10 Jewelry by Xtna d’Luna Xtna d’Luna sM | What is one social issue that your art speaks to the most? Xd ── My jewelry is heavily inspired by Latin culture and my search for roots. I grew up in the military and traveled extensively, which resulted in a disconnect from my Latin roots. Latin culture was only something I experienced sometimes when we visited family in East Los Angeles, and I think a lot about how different my life would look had I grown up in East LA or Mexico. My art is about recreating my identity, forging for myself, and finding all of the other "yo no sabo" kids a new identity. We are truly the epitome of the American ideal of the “melting pot.” Continue the AiR tour in print: ISSUE 9 | ISSUE 10 Sign Up to K eep Up! Our newsletter brings you the best in the visual and performing arts. Exclusive interviews. Global coverage. Local perspectves. sM | How do you select names for your pieces and how does that process contribute to your overall artistry? Xd ── Is it too cliché to say that the pieces name themselves? Sometimes when I name a piece it is because I have a story in my mind that was telling me about this piece. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic, I spent a lot of time in my studio. I found solace in the routine of the creative process, but I also felt guilty for having the privilege of time in my studio when so many people were dying and losing their jobs. I kept thinking about Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “Mask of the Red Death” and I created a pair of red sugar skull earrings that I ultimately titled the same. Other pieces are usually more benign, and the titles come from music, pop culture, Latina culture, literature, food, you name it. sM | Having been an arts educator for the past 20 years, what has the process of teaching taught you about your craft? Xd ── Art is subjective. Keeping that in mind, I have learned over the years not to create pieces that are not true to my vision. When I first began to accept commissions for custom work, I would agonize over what the commissioner wanted. I have learned to trust my creativity, which is the most important thing that I try to convey to my students. That, and how every piece is an “A” if the parameters of the assignment have been met regardless of artistic capability. Not everyone is an artist, but everyone has artistic abilities. Also, never be afraid to try new techniques, which is why I am returning to school as a student to learn new skills in the jewelry design process. PREVIOUS NEXT

Jason Mraz Still from "Pancakes And Butter" The Pop Icon is Here for a Good Time on Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride WORDS BY REBECCA DAVISON-MORA | SAN DIEGO | ALT.ITUDE JUN 20, 2023 | ISSUE 12 MYSTICAL MAGICAL RHYTHMICAL RADICAL RIDE sM | The “Beginner” tattoo on the album cover for Mystical was first seen 15 years ago in the video for “I’m Yours” from We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things How has the meaning of that tattoo changed for you? JM ── Well, it's definitely a state of mind and I may have evolved but the tattoo has not, which is great because I got the tattoo many years ago when I first started surfing. I felt like such a beginner and all the higher level surfers out there were telling me to get out of the way, go to a different wave, so I wished that I'd had a T-shirt that said “beginner” on it. Anytime I did spot the beginners, they were having more fun. And so rather than a t-shirt, I decided I'll just get it tattooed on my arm and do my best in this life to maintain a beginner's mind, which is always a great place to come from in any project. It reminds me to have fun. It reminds me that even though I may have done this before, I've not done it this way before. I've not done it at this age before. Maybe I've not done it in this studio before. By keeping a beginner's mind, there's always ways to view something you've done in a new light.

Hayao Miyazaki Background, Spirited Away (2001), © 2001 Studio Ghibli Designing the Hayao Miyazaki exhibit at The Academy Museum. WORDS BY ALYSSA WEJEBE | LOS ANGELES | FILM NOV 15, 2022 | ISSUE 8 Creating the first major exhibit of Hayao Miyazaki’s work outside of Japan for a newly launched museum, while dealing with an ongoing pandemic, is an intense combination of firsts. But Exhibitions Curator Jessica Niebel, and Assistant Curator J. Raúl Guzmán, accomplished that feat for the opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. As the co-founder of animation juggernaut Studio Ghibli and the director behind critically acclaimed animated films like Princess Mononoke , Spirited Away, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , Miyazaki has become a visionary storyteller and artist. Exhibitions of his work have largely remained exclusive to his home country of Japan in places like the Ghibli Museum, which he also designed himself. But Niebel and Guzmán convinced Studio Ghibli to trust them with an exhibition of Miyazaki’s work, and the two have closely worked with the studio ever since. The Academy Museum’s inaugural exhibit provides a new opportunity to see rare production art from Miyazaki’s films outside Japan. Located in Los Angeles, California, the show opened September 30 and will run until June 5, 2022. Niebel and Guzmán spoke with smART Magazine about designing the exhibit and using animated characters to inspire a journey-like experience for visitors.

CHARLOTTE — AiR TOUR — Issue 8 Eric Ndelo - Macfly Fresh Print CHARLOTTE — AiR TOUR — Issue 8 Art by Macfly Fresh Print Eric Ndelo SM | How do you think this program fits into the artist community in Charlotte? EN ── I believe it was a perfect fit. Charlotte Artists need to be seen. Not only seen, but seen by people who appreciate art and have the $$ to spend on it. This program fulfilled all the above. A lot of times big events like Immersive Van Gogh get filled by talented national/international artists and just a few local artists get a piece of the pie. But that wasn’t the case. I saw a lot of work from a lot of people I knew and didn’t know, from the Charlotte artist community. We need more collaborative events like this that get international attention. It truly helps build our creative economy. Continue the AiR tour in print: ISSUE 9 | ISSUE 10 Sign Up to K eep Up! Our newsletter brings you the best in the visual and performing arts. Exclusive interviews. Global coverage. Local perspectves. sM | What is your takeaway from the experience of working in-studio at IVG Charlotte? EN ── My take away would be that it is so refreshing to see Charlotte artists create side-by-side with each other. To collaborate with each other. To lean on and celebrate each other. We were able to interact with the gumbo of individuals that came to see the show from all over the world. In our residency, we collaborated with 3 other artists that don’t traditionally use screen printed apparel or posters as their main medium of expression. So in the process of teaching them the art of screen printing and translating their digital art files into production screens; they were teaching me to be a better artist myself. We all have our own processes of accomplishing our work. It’s great to have gained new friends for life that I will continue to learn from and be inspired by. sM | What inspiration do you get from artists around you? EN ── Each and every artist that we have worked with—either at the residency or in the greater Charlotte arts community—each and every one has their own style that speaks to the people. So I’m truly inspired by their confidence, boldness, and ability to attract newer and newer audiences to their work. Like with Naji for example. We created a variety of test prints, some came out perfect and some not so perfect. We even had a printer issue that was spitting out transparencies that were less than perfect themselves. But Naji was able to take those beautiful mistakes and turn them into a collage piece that happened to be one of the dopest mixed media pieces in his residency. PREVIOUS NEXT

On the Opening of Little Island Ayodele Casel by Patrick Randak, Edited by smART Magazine PigPen Ayodele Casel WORDS BY TASH COWLEY | NEW YORK | THEATRE APR 11, 2023 | ISSUE 6 Between West 13th and 14th street, crouched amidst the glinting waves of the Hudson, a curious and captivating bleach-white structure cools its feet in the river. Even from a distance, it’s easy to see that Little Island is no ordinary park. This 2.4 acre waterside wilderness is New York’s newest and most innovative effort to return live entertainment to the city. Inside, nestled between lush botanic gardens, twisting Lombard-esque pathways, and boulder-pricked grass slopes, three rustic stage spaces are welcoming performers back home. Here, musicians, dancers, actors, poets, mimes and more are returning to work among the elements in The Amph, The Glade and The Playground. Spectators are gathering to appreciate art safely again, breathing easily in the brisk riverside air, and the sense of elation is palpable. After such a long hiatus, the aching familiarity of a trip to the theatre has ignited a collective gratitude for New York’s inspirational adaptability to change. It feels fitting that Little Island’s aesthetic is modelled on the aging wooden “pile fields” in the river, the ghosts of piers past. There is a sense of rebirth here, of using the foundations of the past to build a stronger future, and of taking hold of something seemingly fragmented and nurturing the beauty that remains. 18 months into the pandemic and Broadway theatres are still impatiently drumming their fingers, awaiting their beginner’s call. However, in the absence of comfortable indoor spaces, the show has managed to go on elsewhere. When the pandemic drove everyday activities outside, entertainers adjusted to the change. The word theatre has been redefined, and al fresco venues have sprung up like budding flowers across the city, with Little Island among them. Some might ask what sets this floating hive of activity apart from its competitors? Since it’s conception in 2013, Little Island was destined to include performing arts spaces and was built to accommodate acts of every kind. However, it can be argued that the true essence of its individuality lies with four exceptionally talented Artists-In-Residence: Ayodele Casel, PigPen Theatre Co., Michael McElroy and Tina Landau. These remarkable individuals will spend the next three years breathing life, ingenuity, and joy into every inch of the island, combining their collective wealth of perspectives and disciplines to enrich our understanding of what it means to be an artist. Each will direct and perform their own work, nurture relationships with community partners, curate festivals and review artist submissions for Perform In The Park . Casel is a tap dancer, actress, choreographer, and co-curator of Little Island’s Dance Festival, alongside Torya Beard. Arya Shahi is an actor, musician, co-founder of PigPen Theatre Co., and co-curator of Little Island’s Storytelling Festival. They join us to discuss the thrill of NYC’s artistic recovery, how the festivals will challenge our perceptions of art, and the indefatigable adaptability of artists in the face of adversity.

Anna Zvyagintseva The Artist's Studio at the Jan van Eyck Academy "How can I even make art now?" WORDS BY MACENZIE REBELO & MICHAEL ZARATHUS-COOK ISSUE 10 | MAASTRICHT/KYIV Over the past year, Ukrainian artist Anna Zvyaginseva has immersed herself in her creative work as an artist-in-residence at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Zvyaginseva’s practice investigates elusive, intangible moments through multimedia installations such as a simple breakfast served by her mother or a stick projecting from the earth. Halfway through her residency, the Russian invasion upended her life in Maastricht and that of her family back in Kyiv. Zvyaginsteva spoke with Cannopy Magazine about her residency experience and the challenges of responding artistically to the trauma of the invasion while being far from home. Anna Zvyaginseva How has the Jan van Eyck Academie residency contributed to your mission to explore "useless action, small gestures" and the "potentiality of doubt" despite the challenging circumstances? AZ ── When I arrived at the academy, I discovered that indeed this place is full of labs and workshops: printing labs, a photo lab, new materials lab, wooden workshops, and metal workshops. So it was full of, uh, labs and workshops. I spent the first month just experimenting with these new materials and techniques. I had some projects in mind for open studios, but by that time, there was already tension between Russia and Ukraine, and we were feeling that something might happen. So I postponed my “useless” projects because they didn’t correspond with how I was feeling now. From "Misplaced Touches" at the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv The works that I realized during the residency are kind of small gestures, there’s still that potentiality of doubt present in many of my works. With the open studios, the first question I had in mind was, “How do I use some materials that can disappear later?” Then when the war started, I did, for example, a work that’s called Sustainable Costume for an Invader . It’s related to the viral videos that were posted just on the first day of the war: a Ukrainian lady was screaming at the Russian soldier that entered the city. She was screaming at him, “You came to our land with weapons, at least put these seeds in your pockets. And when you die on our land, sunflowers will grow.” Her words were so powerful, and I decided to do something with it. So my intention was to use some material to sow a costume that can disappear if you put it in the ground. So I used rabbit skin, glue, and seeds. It’s a small gesture but quite powerful. The Same Hair - 2022 - Design by Irina Pereira This year has certainly been incredibly difficult for Ukrainian artists. How did the Russian invasion impact your creative drive? And how has your artist community in Kyiv contributed to this resistance at home and abroad? AZ ── I will speak personally about myself. I can’t speak for other artists. I know that many of my friends continued their practice, doing powerful works. They also did a lot of quick works, quick replies, and they were selling things like posters to help the army and fundraise for our volunteer movements. To speak personally about me, when the war started, among other unexpected urgent questions, my head was blowing up with these two new questions for me. Will I be able to work? And how can I even make art now? What happened was so shocking. War catched everything. It catched my body, my mind, my time, my ability to be present in the moment. And the most urgent question for me was if my close ones were safe. I was quite paralyzed in the first days, but then I understood that I needed to find a way to oppose the war. I’m not on the frontline. I am not a physician. And I’m quite far away from my homeland. But I still want to help. And I decided that while I’m working, I’m also opposing the war. War wants everything to be dead, to paralyze life in any sense. So if not to kill a person, then war will rein them in mentally, prevent people from thinking, dreaming, walking, So I think this thought saved me because while I was working, I was in a stable position. And being stable and more or less okay also helped my close ones because if you are tired of all the news you are receiving and there is someone that can support you, then you change one another. L: "Dusty Glasses" by Johan Creten, Yazan Khalili, and Anna Zvyagintseva | R: "Bread and Butter" for the Jan van Eyck Academie I did a lot of new work. I participated in many shows, and I have plans for future works. So with this urgency to respond to war, sometimes you just can’t find an answer, or you can’t react in any form of art. So it’s okay to just continue your daily practices. My work’s more or less now connected to what is happening, maybe not in such a direct way, but I try to reflect on my life with them.

Art for Environmental Consciousness Three Artists Activating Art in the Fight Against Climate Change Words by Leila Refahi | Illustrations by Brandon Hicks ISSUE 10 | ARTS & LETTERS As an artist focusing on endangered animals, I travelled to Malax, Finland in the fall of 2017 to join the Malakta Art Factory’s residency program. I was invited to the Merenkurkku School in Vaasa to perform an art project during my stay, and I designed one that aimed to teach students about fur farms and how the leather industry violates animal rights. We gave students materials to create artworks on this theme, and they created origami birds using paper that was printed with animal fur patterns. Afterwards, we configured these paper birds into an installation that was showcased in the school hall. I travelled to Germany and Iran in the following years where I led the same art projects, and each time I found myself continually amazed by the engagement of the students, their interaction with the process, their eagerness to create art, and also their conversations about animal rights. These experiences raised new ideas for me, and they also made me reconsider the relationship between art and environmental justice. Throughout art history, nature has long served as the source of inspiration for artists. This influence can be found in wide-ranging art forms from the prehistoric cave paintings of the Upper Palaeolithic to the landscapes of David Hockney. Nature is still the focal point for many artists in the contemporary world, but with a twist. Today, artists have transformed this familiar and ancient practice of representing nature into a venue for expressing environmental concerns. We live in a critical historical moment where various ecological crises threaten lifeforms on Earth, and the destructive impacts of human activity on environmental pollution, climate change, and species extinction are increasingly self-evident. Given the ecological challenges we face, the need for a profound change in understanding the relationship between humans and other species on Earth is more apparent than ever. And art, just maybe, holds the capacity to both reveal and respond to these environmental issues and the need to redefine these relationships. One of the artists using art to highlight such critical concerns is B. Stephen Carpenter, the Chief Executive Artist of Reservoir Studio, who created a participatory performance at Pennsylvania’s Edinboro University in 2014 to draw attention to the global water crisis. Water scarcity is a social and ecological injustice, one that sees 771 million people around the world without access to clean water and nearly a million people dying every year from water-related diseases. A group of students, faculty, and community members participated in Carpenter’s performance and were tasked with making handmade ceramic water filters as a creative response to water scarcity. By producing filters as art objects and bringing filter production practices into a public space, the performance made what often seems like an abstract concept into something that was now tangible and perceptible. In doing so, the performance generated conversations about the water crisis that moved into the classroom and university board meetings, as well as online and into social media channels. It also allowed participants to experience the power of collaboration and the influence of creative action. As art theorist Maxine Greene notes: “the arts provide a space for engaging in a co-creative dialogue with nature and culture.” By enhancing environmental sensitivity, questioning, creativity, and the imagination, art projects like Carpenter’s have the power to transform the collective consciousness—a necessary step in helping us rebuild our connections with the biotic communities we are a part of. Another art project aimed at drawing attention to environmental destruction comes from the ecological researchers Emma L. Johansson and Ellinor Isgren, who performed a participatory art project in 2017 to understand how large-scale land acquisitions in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania were impacting local lives. Climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, pollutants, soil degradation, and waste are all examples of how agriculture is entangled with environmental destruction, and art became a medium through which the local participants could express their concerns and stories of change. Beginning with group conversations around local perceptions of environmental change, how natural resources have changed and how this impacts livelihood, the project then transitioned into painting workshops inspired by the Tanzanian art style, Tingatinga. By using a familiar art style with storytelling motives and roots in an African tradition, the project allowed locals to visualise the social and environmental changes taking place around them. But it also allowed creative thinking to take place alongside conversations about these environmental issues. All in all, the project exposed locals to new ways of thinking about the pressing issues they were facing and helped motivate the community to act. The final example I’ll share is the innovative artistic practice of Kathleen Vaughan, a visual artist, writer, scholar, and educator who creates projects oriented towards increasing awareness of environmental and social issues and fostering a sense of community. Her Walk in the Water project ran from 2016-2020 and used visual art and oral history to explore the St. Lawrence River’s shoreline in the de-industrialized Montréal neighbourhood of Pointe-St-Charles from an environmental perspective. Flowing through and adjacent to numerous Indigenous homelands, this large river has always been a primary habitat and thoroughfare for many peoples and creatures. Yet the St. Lawrence River’s shoreline has dramatically changed over the last 200 years as the result of urban construction. Now, most of the Pointe’s terrain near the river is contaminated soil unfit for human habitation. Vaughan draws on writings and interviews with residents and environmental experts and uses multiple forms to raise awareness about the complexities of the river and how people can connect with its waters and creatures. There is the wall-sized textile map of the shoreline’s changes that features various layers of pieced and embroidered cloth showing the flowing river and its changed boundaries. There are also touch-activated audio excerpts that share river stories and even the hydroponically recorded submerged voice of the St. Lawrence River, giving a voice to the environment itself. All these art projects examine the environmental crisis through starkly different lenses. But collectively, they show how art can be used both to engage people and also lead them to discover something different in the process. If there is an urgent need for rethinking our relationship with the environment, these projects show that artistic responses can become both symbolic and genuine social actions all at once by educating the public and allowing them to reconnect with their natural surroundings. Art becomes a metaphoric experience where participants and viewers are empowered to creatively imagine and embody their ideas, while also gaining insight into the world around them.