Hurricane Season

Every year we are forced to reinvent ourselves, growing
shabbier. Perhaps uncertainty comes from the shifty
breath of Hurricanes, their unlocked eyes revolving
always counterclockwise. Watchful. Unmaking us.

– Olive Senior, “Hurricane Watch” (2022)

Every year from June 1 through November 30, people across the Caribbean archipelago hold their breath. It’s hurricane season. Hurricanes and the devastation they bring have long been a part of life in the Caribbean, but with climate change these storms are getting far more violent. They pick up steam faster than ever before, leaving little time to prepare. Rising sea levels are eating away at shorelines. The aftermaths of storms are unbearable and shed light on the living legacy of colonialism and ongoing political corruption. Yet even as the effects of climate change wreak havoc on the region, life across the archipelago continues; people adapt to an impossible new normal.

In the face of a threat at a scale that is difficult to fully comprehend, artists show us how these climate changes relate to a lived, everyday reality—how they intersect with our experience of family, community, and home. They translate a global crisis to a human scale. “Hurricane Season” is an exhibition about a home under threat, cycles of environmental and political violence, repair even when more is coming and inevitable. It is about a home worth rebuilding, even under these conditions.