Hope Springs Eternal
Heather Bird Harris, Monica Ordóñez & Bryan Tarnowski

Hope Springs Eternal models the mindset we need as we move through the climate crisis; documenting a creative act of environmental resistance and community care in New Orleans. In April 2024, a group of artists, dancers, musicians and supporters gathered to support the work of RISE St. James, a grassroots environmental justice organisation fighting to protect St. James Parish from petrochemical expansion.

During a live performance, participants created a large-scale painting using ink made from local oak trees and paint made with soil gathered from a contested plot of land at the heart of Louisiana’s struggle between life and industry. The site, Buena Vista Plantation, is believed to be the burial ground of more than 158 enslaved and formerly enslaved people and is also the proposed location for a Formosa Plastics facility. Even before expansion, Formosa emits over 800 tons of toxic chemicals each year into the surrounding community, part of the region now known as “Cancer Alley.”

Hope Springs Eternal honours the ongoing fight to protect ancestral land and amplifies the intergenerational struggle for environmental justice in Louisiana. The event and film served as a fundraiser to materially support RISE St. James’ legal battle against Formosa, while also sustaining community resistance through an expression of grief and hope – made by community, for community, in defence of land and life.