In 2004, Miami environmental artist Xavier Cortada worked with hundreds of Hands on Miami volunteers to metaphorically reforest the I-95 underpasses in the downtown Miami, Little Havana and Allapattah neighborhoods.

Cortada's images of mangrove seedlings were used by volunteers to paint dozens of columns beneath I-95 and create the “Miami Mangrove Forest.”

Fast-forward two years, Cortada staged an ecological art intervention with his “Reclamation Project,” where the community has since planted eight acres of mangroves on Biscayne Bay.

This art exhibition features the original drawings of mangrove seedlings that were initially exhibited at the OMNIART Miami Art Fair in December 2004.

Fifteen years later, Cortada is asking residents to actually grow Miami’s mangrove forest by planting salt-tolerant mangrove seedlings in their yards. Through his “Plan(T)” eco-art project they will plan for the future and plant mangrove seedlings to help combat saltwater intrusion, serve as storm buffers and prepare for sea-level rise.
Recently acquired as part of the Miami-Dade Public Library System’s Permanent Art Collection, Cortada’s “Miami Mangrove Forest” drawings will be permanently exhibited at each library branch to encourage residents to continue to learn and work together to “Plan(T)” for the future.

Learn more at www.cortadaprojects.org/planT.