Xavier Cortada: Climate Science Art (2024)
Chapter: Xavier Cortada
Xavier Cortada
Xavier Cortada is a socially engaged artist who uses art’s elasticity to work across disciplines to engage communities in creative problem-solving. Over the last three decades, he has created more than 150 public artworks, installations, and collaborative murals across six continents and has made work at both Earth’s poles. Pioneering eco-art in Miami, his community-driven art has catalyzed over 25 acres of ecological restoration in Florida, yielded participatory projects in every Miami-Dade County public school and library, and sparked interdisciplinary initiatives to address sea level rise. Through his foundation, the Cuban American artist engages people in hands-on projects that generate awareness and inspire action around the climate crisis and other social justice issues. Cortada served as Miami-Dade County’s inaugural artist-in-residence, was inducted into the State of Florida Artists Hall of Fame, and won a 2023 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Excellence in Science Communications Award. He earned bachelor’s, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Miami.
