Gallery Talk: Exploring the Ideas of The Human Flood

Join the artists, Sondra N. Arkin and Ellyn Weiss in conversation with artist and curator Thomas Drymon about the ideas behind the exhibition and learn more about climate refugees in a second gallery talk scheduled for

Thursday, 5:00- 6:00pm

What does it truly mean to leave a life behind upon migration and start a new one elsewhere? The Human Flood, a site-specific collaborative installation conceived and created by Ellyn Weiss and Sondra N. Arkin, attempts to answer this question through its exploration of the ever-growing mass migration of human populations caused by climate change. Years of extreme heat, rising sea levels, wildfires, drought, and water shortages have left the environments in which millions of people lived no longer able to sustain human life.

The installation invites visitors to confront the full experience of migration by evoking both the more visible markers of this movement - extreme weather, nomadic refugee scenarios — as well as the human and societal impacts of uprooting, including the fracturing of family ties, uncertainty, poverty, and helplessness.

The dilemma we face is how to accept responsibility without amplifying fear or threat, to recognize our common humanity. The scale of this movement places immense challenges not only on the resources of the planet, but fundamentally on the capacity of the heart to evolve, and to address those challenges with honesty and compassion.

This event will be held in-person at the museum.

Please direct any questions about this event to the museum's main contact for this event, Patricia Edwine-Poku at [email protected].

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, United States