CREATING ART TO ENCOURAGE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Aaron Henderson

Western Pennsylvania and the surrounding region still struggle to clear the air from decades of pollution, and environmental disasters and irresponsible commercial activities continue to affect our communities.

A professor from the University of Pittsburgh is using creativity to highlight environmental justice issues. Aaron Henderson, associate professor in the Department of Studio Arts, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has launched Future Studio, an initiative that collaborates with communities to envision a better future. The goal is to listen to the lived experiences of communities and then create projects that encourage dialogue and change. The work is funded in part through a Pitt Arts and Humanities Microgrant and an award from the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation. 

The microgrant funds a series of workshops and events between Future Studio and residents of Beaver County, Pennsylvania and East Palestine, Ohio. Future Studio is a project that plans and implements art and design collaborations with local communities in the region. These workshops and events will focus on creative opportunities to build community and raise awareness about the environmental justice issues they are undergoing. One effort, “Make It Right,” projects images and text onto buildings in East Palestine raising awareness about the humanitarian crisis created by the toxic train derailment. “The Watchers” is a sculpture created in collaboration with Pitt students that is designed to capture the attention of lawmakers. Future Studio also used projection to call attention to struggles among people who live in the shadow of U.S. Steel facilities. The team is beginning a project in Beaver County, which is grappling with a new ethane cracker plant. 

“All of us deserve clean air to breathe and clean water to drink,” Henderson says. “I hope more people will pay attention to these critical—and remarkably local—issues. We need to consider the consequences of our choices, support companies that prioritize community well-being, think about how plastic fits into our world and vote thoughtfully to create meaningful change.”