When Art Plants Seeds: Soros Fellows Reimagine Land, Memory, and Survival

A global fellowship is quietly rewriting the script on how art can shape our planet’s future. The 2023 Soros Arts Fellowship spotlights 18 artists whose projects dig deep into the tangled roots of environment, memory, and Indigenous knowledge. This year’s theme, “Art, Land, and Public Memory,” brings together creators who don’t just make art—they cultivate new ways of seeing and healing. From Yto Barrada’s eco-feminist textile experiments in Tangier to Deborah Jack’s multimedia map of Caribbean memory, each project is a living archive of resilience and place. Other fellows, like Cannupa Hanska Luger and Carolina Caycedo, channel survival guides and grassroots activism, blending Indigenous wisdom with contemporary urgency. Their works, spanning sculpture, film, and public installations, invite communities to reclaim stories and spaces threatened by crisis. In the hands of these artists, art becomes more than a mirror—it’s a seed bank for tomorrow’s possibilities, rooted in justice and collective memory. #ArtAndActivism #EnvironmentalJustice #IndigenousVoices #Culture