Join our Associated Artist Ray Jordan Achan and our Climate Justice Fellows Bl3ssing Oshun Ra and Cody Herrmann as they discuss their Fellowship journeys and the changing needs and desires of artists working in climate justice, climate advocacy and environmental racism.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
CODY HERRMANN, CLIMATE JUSTICE FELLOW 2021
Cody Ann Herrmann is an artist and community organizer based in Flushing, Queens, NYC. Guided by her interest in public space, participatory design methods, and urban resilience Cody’s work often explores urban planning processes while applying an iterative, human centered approach to ecological problem solving. Since 2014 her work has focused on her hometown of Flushing, creating projects critiquing policy related to land use and environmental planning in areas surrounding Flushing Bay and Flushing Creek.
BL3SSING OSHUN RA, CLIMATE JUSTICE FELLOW 2020
Bl3ssing is a Black, disabled, nonbinary artist, organizer, and self-described 'underground ecologist.' Since 2017, Bl3ssing has used their love for African-American folk spirituals, theatre, and speculative art to facilitate workshops about environmental issues that combine scientific scholarship with digital media and ritual performance. Bronx-born and raised, Bl3ssing is devoted to building communities of resistance among marginalized populations disproportionately impacted by environmental injustices.
RAY JORDAN ACHAN, CULTURE PUSH ASSOCIATED ARTIST
Ray Jordan Achan (he/him/his) is an Indo-Caribbean, Brooklyn based theater-maker. Ray is the Founding Artistic Director of EXILED TONGUES, a performance collective that provides financial, artistic and collaborative support to artists of the global majority who center diasporic consciousness. Ray's performative work primarily deals with the intersection between racial and climate justice, particularly as they relate to the NYC coastline. He is the recipient of the 2022 NYSCA Individual Artist Grant for his site-specific documentary theater project, "Our Bang for Their Buck: No Pipeline for LNG", and is the recipient of the 2022 Creative Equations Fund from the Brooklyn Arts Council and a commissioned artist with Works on Water for his site-specific documentary theater project, "(Re)Imagining Greenpoint's Green Waters."