The Reclamation Project:
Mangroves to “reclaim” South Beach during Art Basel 2006

Miami Beach, FL ---October 2006--- Miami artist Xavier Cortada is working with volunteers to on Miami Beach to raise environmental awareness through the creation of a major public art project called The Reclamation Project.

The artist will dramatize the destruction of the native mangrove forest with an installation consisting of over 2,500 mangrove seedlings in clear cups to be displayed in the windows of South Beach business from November through January. At the end of the project, the seedlings will be collected and used to reforest a portion of Biscayne Bay.
To learn more about the project including volunteer opportunities and event dates and locations, see www.reclamationproject.net.

In a 1915 photo, Miami Beach founder Carl Fisher poses with Rosie the elephant as they help clear the “swamps” to make way for Lincoln Road. We now know that these mangrove forests are vital to establishing a healthy habitat for marine life, birds and other animals. Through the project, Cortada hopes “to remind us we must learn to coexist with nature in our urban settings, instead of relegating it to nature preserves.”

Click here for the entire press release