Participants should arrive promptly at 7:30AM for a coffee and light snack reception, with the walk beginning at 7:45AM.
MEETING POINT: In front of the Brickell Station across from the Publix Join artist and naturalist Nadir Souirgi in an interpretive nature walk on The Underline.
Clearing is a somatic exercise conceptualizing land and landscape, an invitation to think about space and conservation structurally. In this context, birdwatching becomes a platform to explore ideas of conservation less rooted in field identification and hard facts, but as a practice to develop a more complete awareness of the natural world humans share space with. When thinking about endangered species and declining populations, it's important to contextualize why this is happening, expanding awareness into oneself and the space we inhabit. We will observe nature not just as a spectator, but locate ourselves in a larger community - allowing sensorial experience to connect with political structures, recontextualizing space to include human and non human. Clearing is part of the expanded practice of artist Nadir Souirgi, who’s painting exhibition Metonym is currently on display at the Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI) pop up in Miami’s Design District, in collaboration with Bridge Initiative. The exhibition is part of Waterproof, a series of site-specific artists’ projects presented by BFI and Bridge Initiative developed in direct response to the environmental issues facing South Florida, planned through 2022. Each project presents an opportunity for outreach, engagement, and action. About the Artist Raised in New York City and Miami, Nadir Souirgi was born to Haitian and Moroccan immigrant parents. His work examines conditions of identity and the earth crisis. Nadir is an MFA painting candidate at the Yale School of Art. He lives and works in NYC. Nadir learned at an early age that nature is where you see it. This was due in large part to the influence and generosity of Oscar Ruiz, a close family friend who was an avid birder and amateur naturalist himself. According to Nadir, “Oscar is probably why I became a teacher. He didn’t just teach me about the natural world, he taught me to love it, and that it also has to be taught.” And so he teaches: as an elementary school art teacher in East Harlem, through The Harlem County Bird Club nature study and bird program he created at his school, and now with NYC Audubon.