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What To Do With Those Political Yard Signs? This Artist Has An Idea, Linked To The Rising Sea

Visual artist Xavier Cortada is leading an effort to turn political yard signs into signs showing the elevations of people's homes above sea level. The project is intended to promote civility and raise awareness of sea-level rise.
Courtesy of Xavier Cortada
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

If you’re not sure what to do with your yard signs now that the midterm elections are over, a South Florida artist has a suggestion for you.

Visual artist Xavier Cortada is leading a project to turn political yard signs into markers showing how high people’s homes are above sea level. The goal is to bring people together following the divisive 2018 midterms, and to raise awareness of how sea-level rise can impact South Florida -- from property values to insurance rates to tidal flooding and contamination of drinking water.

"I want these political signs to be gestures of our civility," said Cortada, the artist-in-residence at Pinecrest Gardens in south Miami-Dade.

He’s asking people to take their yard signs and paint over the candidates’ names with white paint -- the color of melting glaciers.

"Your political red or your political blue sign turns into a white sign -- but not a white sign of retreat or surrender, but a white sign of, this is the greatest crisis we face."

Then you find your home’s elevation -- there are apps available -- and paint that on the sign in black. Add a blue squiggly line to represent the rising sea.

Visual artist Xavier Cortada, a Miami native who's artist-in-residence at Pinecrest Gardens, is leading a project to turn yard signs into sea-level rise markers.
Credit Courtesy of Xavier Cortada
/
The Florida Channel
Visual artist Xavier Cortada, a Miami native who's artist-in-residence at Pinecrest Gardens, is leading a project to turn yard signs into sea-level rise markers.

"Whether we’re at 17 feet elevation or at three feet elevation, all of us -- our tax base, our flood insurance, our water -- all of us are going to be impacted," Cortada said. "It’s important for us as a community to begin to address that issue."

The effort is linked to a project Cortada’s calling the Underwater Homeowners Association. The project started in Pinecrest but is now expanding throughout Miami-Dade.

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Kate Stein can't quite explain what attracts her to South Florida. It's more than just the warm weather (although this Wisconsin native and Northwestern University graduate definitely appreciates the South Florida sunshine). It has a lot to do with being able to travel from the Everglades to Little Havana to Brickell without turning off 8th Street. It's also related to Stein's fantastic coworkers, whom she first got to know during a winter 2016 internship.Officially, Stein is WLRN's environment, data and transportation journalist. Privately, she uses her job as an excuse to rove around South Florida searching for stories à la Carl Hiaasen and Edna Buchanan. Regardless, Stein speaks Spanish and is always thrilled to run, explore and read.