Kin to the Cove Collective

Kin to the Cove is a collective that emerged out of the pandemic. Many people slowed down and found meaningful re-connections with the natural environment (water, trees, etc) that exist within our built  environment/cityscape. We believe participatory art is uniquely positioned to connect people to the hyper local places where they live, illuminating the challenges we face as a community, city, nation, civilization  and species. With guidance from Indigenous brothers and sisters, we are reframing NYC’s water bodies  as our KIN and growing a culture of reciprocity, care, and stewardship with the water. Our process  includes extensive on-the-ground research, art and embodiment practices, and interdisciplinary  community building. Together, we seek to re-imagine, decolonize, and build a future wherein our beloved Cove (Vernon Blvd at 31st Drive) can thrive. 

 Christopher Bisram and Audrey Dimola are representing Kin to the Cove in the Water Connectors 2022 Cohort. Both artists grew up in the neighborhood and have deep ties to these waters. The greater collective includes Fuse (aka Bruce McNeil), Bella Gallo, Garfield Miller, Christina Delfico, James Manzi, Jessie Taft, Gray the They, Tecumseh Ceaser, Sarah Cameron Sunde, and an shifting group of neighborhood folx who frequent the Cove. It was initially born out of conversations Audrey and Sarah were having about how to actively engage the community around the water in relationship to 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea, and has become an ongoing stewardship project. 

Buena Onda Collective (Dominika Ksel and Camila A. Morales)

Buena Onda Collective (Dominika Ksel and Camila A. Morales) is an eco-centered, paradigm shifting, transmedia collective that uses sculpture, installation and interactivity to playfully explore ideas around restoration, remediation and interspecies communication during the Anthropocene.

We work with a range of media and design techniques including: 3D Modeling, Architecture, Digital and Physical Fabrication, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Sound Composition, Video, Animation and more. Our influences range from science, art, architecture and consciousness. We enjoy subverting and transforming ideas around ‘sustainability’ into more intimate, transhuman experiences where the consciousness of non-human species is more deeply considered. We do this by mapping out the invisible landscapes of our interdependent, rhizomatic relationships via various community-based artworks and workshops.

The founders are educators and artists with over 10 + years in the art and architecture realm. The Rockaway based art collective’s focus is on the creation of a eco-centered community oriented practice. We value process and collaboration that facilitate more equitable and dynamic ways of integrating and communing with sentient and non-sentient life.

Rodrick Bell

Rodrick Bell is the Recreation Coordinator for the Bronx River Alliance. Rodrick began working with the alliance as a volunteer and helping staff to lead canoe trips. His life work is centered on the preservation of the history and cultural traditions of indigenous eastern woodlands First Nations. He is passionate about not only protecting and rehabilitating the Bronx River, but also creating outdoor personal experiences that have reshaped the attitudes of all participants and encouraged them to redevelop a love and respect for the earth.

Nora Almeida

Nora Almeida is an urban swimmer, writer, performance artist, librarian, and environmental activist. She’s an Associate Professor at the New York City College of Technology and a long-time volunteer at Interference Archive. She has curated exhibitions and organized media-making workshops, public events, and street performances across NYC. She spent the past two years working on the exhibition “Our Streets! Our City! Self-determination and Public Space in NYC” which is on view at Interference Archive through August 21, 2022. Her book, The Social Movement Archive, co-authored with the archivist and educator Jen Hoyer, was published in July 2021 by Litwin Books. She lives in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Ray Jordan Achan

Ray Jordan Achan (he/him/his) is an Indo-Caribbean, Brooklyn based theater-maker.  Ray is the Founding Artistic Director of EXILED TONGUES, a performance collective that provides financial, artistic and collaborative support to QTBIPOC artists (artists of the global majority) who center diasporic consciousness. Ray's performative work primarily deals with the intersection between racial and climate justice, particularly as they relate to the NYC coastline. He is the recipient of the 2022 NYSCA Individual Artist Grant for his site-specific documentary theater project, "Our Bang for Their Buck: No Pipeline for LNG", the 2022 Creative Equations Fund from the Brooklyn Arts Council and a commissioned artist with Works on Water for his site-specific documentary theater project, "(Re)Imagining Greenpoint's Green Waters" Ray is a Rising Producer Fellow at the Creative & Independent Producer Alliance, an Associated Artist at Culture Push, the Artistic & Development Liaison at the Orchard Project & a Producing Associate at Hypokrit Productions. Ray is a graduate of Wesleyan University with a BA in Government and Theater with Honors. rayjordanachan.com | exiledtongues.com

Cody Ann Herrmann

Cody Ann Herrmann is an artist and community organizer based in Flushing, Queens, NYC. Guided by her interest in public space, participatory design methods, and urban resilience Cody’s work often explores urban planning processes by applying an iterative, human centered approach to ecological problem solving. Since 2014 her work has focused on her hometown of Flushing, creating projects critiquing policy related to land use, local development, and environmental planning in areas surrounding Flushing Bay and Creek. Cody currently is a member of Guardians of Flushing Bay, and Queens Community Board 7. She has been the recipient of the Culture Push Climate Justice Fellowship, More Art Engaging Artists Fellowship, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning Artist in Residency Fellowship, and Works on Water Residency.

codyannherrmann.com