In 2022, artist Xavier Cortada creatively revealed the state of Florida’s climate vulnerability by traveling to 54 coastal city halls and painting a sign at each, depicting their respective elevations above sea level. By installing these signs at the very places where city officials make decisions about municipal budgets, as well as land use, planning and zoning, Cortada made visible the threat that sea level rise poses to each city’s future tax base.
pensacola
fort walton BEACH
panama city
port st. joe
cedar key
tampa
st. petersburg
bradenton
sarasota
venice
fort myers
cape coral
naples
key west
marathon
islamorada
florida city
homestead
cutler bay
palmetto bay
pinecrest
coral gables
miami
key biscayne
miami beach
north bay village
surfside
north miami
aventura
hallandale beach
hollywood
fort lauderdale
pompano beach
deerfield beach
boca raton
delray beach
boynton beach
lake worth
palm beach
west palm beach
jupiter
stuart
fort pierce
vero beach
melbourne
cocoa beach
cape canaveral
titusville
new smyrna beach
daytona beach
flagler beach
st. augustine
jacksonville
fernandina beach
background
This project is an extension of Cortada’s “Underwater HOA,” a socially engaged art project launched in 2018 that saw participants display their property elevations across the community: Using an app, residents discover their property’s elevation above sea level and then install a “UHOA marker” (a yard sign that has the number depicting their house’s elevation) in their front yard. In addition to the personalized signs, the UHOA partnered with the Village of Pinecrest and local public high schools to paint elevation markers on four major intersections along Pinecrest’s Killian Drive. Cortada’s Antarctic Ice Paintings serve as the markers’ backdrop, a literal depiction of melted Antarctic ice.