Adrian Parr Zaretsky

Artist Statement

As governments, policy makers, and the courts worldwide struggle to redress environmental degradation and the harms experienced by vulnerable communities, in my work I look to themes of equity, friendship, and generosity as starting points for change. My creative projects engage the language of affect to invoke an ethical encounter that sets out to humanize the data on violence and disappearance. In my writings I argue in favor of creating social models premised upon open-minded, ecologically conscious, non-violent, and participatory ways of living.

azcontemporaryartist.com; Adrian-parr.com

AZ, Batsheva (from the Stop Right There Series), oil on canvas, 2023,, 48”x60”, European Cultural Center 2024, Venice Art Biennale. Photo: artist’s own

Bio

Adrian Parr Zaretsky is an internationally recognized philosopher, cultural thinker and creative practitioner. She is serving as a UNESCO Chair on Water and Human Settlements. She is the Dean of the College of Design at the University of Oregon and a Senior Fellow of DesignIntelligence. Prior to joining the University of Oregon, she served as the Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington, and as the Director of the Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati. She has produced two award-winning documentaries, Thirsty and Drowning in America and The Intimate Realities of Water, directed in collaboration with Sean Hughes. Her video works, A Tale of Three Rocks and Watershed Urbanism have both received multiple honors at art film festivals in the US and Europe. Her creative works have been exhibited at the European Cultural Center’s Venice Biennale Exhibits. Her latest publication, Earthlings, earned a silver award from the 2023 Nautilus Book Awards in the Ecology & Environment category. She is a writer, public speaker, painter and filmmaker. She has published numerous books and articles and has been interviewed for her views on social and environmental justice by The New York Times, public radio and television. She has published op-eds in The LA Review of Books, The World Financial Review, and The European Magazine.

JuanMa Pagán Teitelbaum

Artist Statement

I grew up in a land-occupation settlement in Vega Baja, surrounded by all the tropical fruit trees that my family could dream of. Seeing so much abundance and generosity from nature around us, I wondered how was it possible that Puerto Rico imported over 85% of our food? That question has determined my audiovisual work for almost 20 years. In my masters thesis in Caribbean Cultural Studies, I explored the displacement of farm workers from the fields to construction sites across Puerto Rico and the diaspora, as part of the new colonial vision of “development” for Puerto Rico. Later, with Mariolga Reyes Cruz, we produced 30 short documentaries presenting the new generation of ecological farmers as they embodied a counternarrative dignifying our ability and will to grow our own food. However, we knew that there was more to the story about the pursuit of food sovereignty in Puerto Rico.

Photo still from the film Stewards of the Land with Puerto Rican farmers preparing a new farm for food production.

Bio

JuanMa Pagán Teitelbaum is a documentary filmmaker and ecological farmer. He holds a master's degree in Caribbean Studies from the State University of New York-Buffalo and a wide-ranging experience in the world of cinema, including lighting and sound work, music video cinematography and editing, and work on movies and documentaries. Alongside Mariolga Reyes Cruz, JuanMa has produced over 30 short documentaries on sustainable agriculture in Puerto Rico. His mini-documentary series Harvest Today (Cosecha Hoy) was broadcast on The Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation and received an Emmy Suncoast nomination. The Stewards of the Land is his first feature-length documentary which showcases the efforts of three Puerto Rican ecological farmers working in the main island of Puerto Rico.