Xavier Cortada: “The Underwater”
Xavier Cortada
A socially engaged art campaign that is facilitating a grassroots climate justice movement in Miami by creating widespread, data-driven, interactive public art installations, exposing the community’s vulnerability to rising seas and providing a platform for storytelling, with the ultimate goal of inspiring civic engagement and collective action.
“The Underwater” is a large-scale socially engaged art project by Xavier Cortada that uses elevation-driven art to systematically reveal South Florida’s vulnerability to rising seas and mobilize residents to demand that their elected officials equitably plan for a future impacted by climate change. By partnering with local governments, schools, and universities, thousands of Miami-Dade County residents have found their property’s elevation above sea level and then installed an “Underwater Elevation Marker” (a yard sign that has the number depicting their house’s elevation) in their front yard.
Xavier Cortada is a Cuban-American artist based in Miami, Florida. He pioneered eco-art in Miami-Dade County and was appointed by the Mayor as the county’s inaugural artist-in-residence in 2022. Over the last three decades, Cortada has created over 150 public artworks, installations, and collaborative murals across six continents and became the only artist to create work at both of the Earth’s poles. His community-driven art has catalyzed over 25 acres of ecological restoration, generated participatory eco-art projects in every Miami-Dade County public school and library, and celebrated scientific breakthroughs such as the discovery of the God particle at CERN. Cortada received bachelors, masters and law degrees from the University of Miami, where he currently serves as professor of practice at the University of Miami Department of Art and Art History with secondary appointments in the School of Law and Miller School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. Through his foundation, the artist engages people in hands-on projects that generate awareness and inspire action around the climate crisis and other social justice issues. Cortada recently discussed this socially engaged art practice during a TED Talk entitled “A creative approach to community climate action” which has garnered over one million views. Learn more at www.cortada.com