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State of the Arts: Poisoned by Zip Code, Mended by Design

Collage of headshots of panelists

Shingle Mountain is gone. Can art and design help the Floral Farms neighborhood heal from environmental injustice? Join KERA at the Dallas Museum of Art for a conversation with the people working to help the neighborhood flourish.

For years, a giant pile of hazardous waste plagued the Dallas neighborhood of Floral Farms. The notorious Shingle Mountain is gone now, but what happens next?

In our latest State of the Arts conversation, join KERA Arts Reporter Miguel Perez in conversation with artist Ari Brielle, community activist Marsha Jackson, Erin Peavey, architect with HKS and Evelyn Mayo of Downwinders at Risk.

State of the Arts: Poisoned by Zip Code, Mended by Design is an in-person event on Saturday, March 5, at the Dallas Museum of Art. Register for the free conversation here. Can't make it in person? The event will be also be live-streamed on the DMA's YouTube channel.

Ari Brielle is a visual artist born and based in Dallas, Texas. Her work explores the politicization and vastness of the Black American femme identity and experience. The artist’s site-specific installation Poisoned by Zip Code is on view at the Dallas Museum of Art. The multimedia installation is a part of the C3 exhibition Rooted, and explores the effects of environmental racism in Dallas, through the story of Marsha Jackson and Shingle Mountain.

Marsha Jackson is an environmental activist who advocated for the removal of the illegal dumping ground, known as Shingle Mountain, in the Southeast Dallas residential community of Floral Farms. Currently, Marsha is the co-chair of Southern Sector Rising, Downwinders At-Risk Board Member, Juanita Craft House Civil Rights Museum Board Member, Lane Plating EPA Superfund Community Advisory Group member, a Red Cross Disaster Team member and Disaster Recovery Operations Advisor.

Evelyn Mayo is the co-founder of RAYO planning. Mayo is also a fellow and professor at Paul Quinn College, and chair of the board of Downwinders at Risk, a 27-year-old DFW-based clean air advocacy group, which most recently got national attention for the campaign to shut down and clean up Shingle Mountain.

Erin Peavey is an Architect and Researcher at HKS, and podcast host of the podcast "Shared Space.” In her leadership role at HKS, she helps integrate research and practice to advance design for health, combat loneliness, and foster resilience across the globe. Peavey serves as the project lead for the Park for Floral Farms, a neighborhood-led effort to create a park space on the former site of Shingle Mountain.

Got a tip? Email Miguel Perez at mperez@kera.org. You can follow him on Twitter @quillindie.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.

Miguel Perez is an assistant producer at KERA. He produces local content for Morning Edition and KERA News. He also produces The Friday Conversation, a weekly interview series with North Texas newsmakers.