March 2, 2023

By Angela Lee (Executive/Artistic Director of Hayti Heritage Center) and Max Cawley (Director of Climate Research and Engagement, Museum of Life and Science)

Over the past year, the Hayti Heritage Center and the Museum of Life and Science have brought together families in Durham to ask them to create pieces of visual art that reflect their values, perspectives, and priorities for the future of Durham. The pieces you see on exhibit were developed through a process of asking evocative, thought-provoking, and sometimes challenging questions about what sort of future people want to see for their community — the community that their children and grandchildren will inherit. What should Durham look like in 2100?

The artwork exhibited in Imagine Durham 2100 was created by families engaged in the Hayti Heritage Center’s incredible Saturday Youth Arts Enrichment Program (SYAEP), through a series of seven co-designed programs. Several pieces were also created through a partnership with Families Moving Forward by families who were guests at FMF’s NEST (Neighbors Experiencing Success Together) in Downtown Durham.

The policies of the future related to climate and environmental change, equity, and human well-being ought to center on and trust peoples’ ability to tell their stories and voice their priorities honestly — the artwork we create is a direct expression of these stories and perspectives and has tremendous meaning and value to science, planning, and policy.

This program was made possible through a Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grant from Burroughs Wellcome Fund and in partnership with Duke School of Medicine, Families Moving Forward, and the Carolinas Collaborative for Climate, Health, and Equity (C3HE).

You can see these incredible works of art in the Terrace Gallery on the second floor of the Museum’s Main Building.