As part of the Citywide Climate Resilience Plan update, the Office of Sustainability partnered with Creative Praxis and Hinge Collective to host the Change Depends on Youth: Art & Poetry Competition and Showcase. The competition invited Philadelphia youth ages 14–21 to create original art and poetry about climate change, resilience, and the future they want for their communities. The entries showed the young artists’ experiences, concerns, hopes, and ideas for a stronger Philadelphia.
On May 30, more than 150 people gathered at Creative Praxis’ Center for Liberation to celebrate the artists and recognize the winners. Youth, families, artists, community members, and supporters enjoyed an afternoon of art, poetry, and live performances. Philadelphia poet, musician, and spoken-word artist Ursula Rucker performed her poem “L.O.V.E.“ Her performance demonstrated the way art can inspire people to think, connect, and take action.
The showcase included paintings, drawings, collages, photography, and poetry. Some poems were displayed in print, while others were performed on stage. The artwork explored topics such as greenhouse gas emissions, extreme weather, and other effects of climate change. Each piece also included a short artist statement. Many artists illustrated both the risks of climate change and their hopes for the future. Their work highlighted the power of community, shared action, and Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. Together, the pieces showed that building climate resilience starts with imagining a better future.
See photos from the event, including the artists and their artwork, on the Office of Sustainability’s Facebook and Instagram.
Young people play an important role in shaping Philadelphia’s Climate Resilience Plan. The ideas and stories shared through this event will help guide the plan and the vision for a stronger and more resilient city.
The Office of Sustainability would like to thank each young artist and poet who took part in the competition. We thank Creative Praxis for leading the event and hosting the showcase at the Center for Liberation. Finally, we thank Hinge Collective, along with the families, educators, artists, and community members whose support made this event possible.
Art and poetry prize winners
The competition awarded prizes in visual art and poetry categories. The prizes were $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place, and $250 for third place. The winners in each category are:
Visual Art
- Kevin Rojas
- Maya Glover
- Sanayah Wardlaw
Poetry and Spoken Word
- Angel Okeke
- Evah Myles Mitchell
- Harmonee’ Summers
Featured poem (1st Place Prize): “There’s Bodies in Our Garden” by Angel Okeke
Dear Philadelphia,
Can’t you see it?
Our young men have forgotten the vowels that voice the word
Home
This sun is a rope lynching our breath
Lungs gasping for air like black bodies gasp when choked with death
While our concrete drinks the fever of the afternoon
It’s so hard to spring when a seed doesn’t know how to bloom
Who knew Philadelphia’s sky could be so envious?
Flash floods kiss our blocks into rivers of regret
Holding the last whimper of sanity while we gleam in centers of financial wealth
Can you see it?
The whispers of ran down basement apartments
The winds whistle through the cracks of a crumbling school
Familiar with the living water that’s decaying like mold
Sh—
Aren’t you listening?
Can’t you hear it?
The rattling breath that our children can’t get rid of
The stain of generational suffocation stuck in our saliva
The tip toe around a mothers yell
That shiver in your back ain’t cold no more
Tell me
How is a whole creation penetrated into a picture of pain
When it was YOUR debt to pay?
Yet now I stand a statistic in a climate report
Look at me
No,
Look at me closely
I’m an embodiment of an entire garden not planted yet
Aren’t you tired of looking at a city turning grey?
You laugh in prosperity while I drown in decay
I hope that one day you take a second
Look up at the grey sky
And water the bodies stashed in this garden of lies
