Xavier Cortada
The Reclamation Project
(“Re-permanent” installation at Florida Botanical Gardens)
150 mangrove seedlings in water-filled plastic cups on wall
(Largo, Florida 2008)
Origins
This participatory eco-art project was launched by Miami artist Xavier Cortada on Earth Day 2006. In this inaugural year, 2,500 red mangrove seedlings were adopted by retail businesses across South Beach. In subsequent years, volunteers have collected seedlings from various Miami-Dade County locations and distributed them to retail and commercial businesses in South Beach, schools and the science museum. Annually, the Reclamation Project plants thousands of mangroves on our bay, rebuilding ecosystems above and below the water line.
The Reclamation Project installation at the Miami Science Museum displays over 1,100 mangrove seedlings in clear, water-filled cups. They will grow there for a year until they are ready to be reforested. At that time, another 1,100 seedlings will be nurtured in this re-permanent nursery.
Mangrove “Reclamation” and Reforestation
Every year, Reclamation Project volunteers collect mangrove seedlings from nature preserves and distribute them across the community, symbolically “reclaiming” urban areas that once flourished with mangrove forests.
Mangroves are important for they create the interface between land and water where marine life takes hold. Today, there are few places where mangrove seedlings can take root on Biscayne Bay because it has been barricaded by man-made barriers such as sea walls and development.
The Reclamation Project installation at the Miami Science Museum displays over 1,100 mangrove seedlings in clear, water-filled cups. They grew there for a year until they wereready to be reforested. At that time, another 1,100 seedlingswere nurtured in this re-permanent nursery.