Vector-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue and zika, among others, are transmitted by small organisms (vectors) such as mosquitoes, fleas or ticks that carry pathogens from animals to humans, person to person and place to place. As the earth warms and climate changes, the environment conducive to the spread of these diseases expands, exposing vulnerable new populations that lack any protection to these pathogens. In these circumstances, vector-borne diseases can spread rapidly and in unexpected ways, posing severe challenges to national governments, international health systems and the world’s population. We see this today with the outbreak of zika. The amount of greenhouse gases already in the environment ensures that the phenomenon will only increase for at least the medium-term future regardless of the success of efforts to curtail emissions of CO2. 

Artists
Ellyn Weiss, Sondra Arkin and Veronica Szalus have been exhibiting their work locally and nationally for over 20 years; all have significant experience creating installation art, as well as more traditional wall-hung work. Weiss and Arkin, for example, collaborated on a gallery-filling installation at the Gateway Arts Center entitled “Big Ideas”, concerned with the evolution of the area now known as the Gateway Arts District. Weiss collaborated on a climate change-related installation created at the American Association for the Advancement of Science and at the McLean Project for the Arts, called “Voyage of Discovery”, which evoked a trip to the melting polar regions. Szalus has created numerous installations, often using fragile and ethereal materials to address the impact of the environment upon them and allow the viewer to become a witness to temporary conditions that frame our lives.
 

Sound art created for the exhibition by Barry Schmetter
See:
ellynweiss.com
sondranarkin.com
veronicaszalus.com

Hours:
Saturdays Noon-5:00 By Appointment M-F

Otis Street Arts Project

3706 Otis Street
Mount Rainier, MD 20712

202.550.4634

otisstreetartsproject@gmail.com otisstreearts.org 

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