Collage the Planet is a series of residencies, publications, discussions, and exhibitions that looks at how artists can use collage to speak to Environmental Issues.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The premise of Kolaj Institute’s Collage the Planet Project is that science has the capacity to tell us how to care for the planet, but those solutions are meaningless if humanity doesn’t care enough to evolve and change. Art is a unique technology that can distill complexity into simple human gestures that, when experienced, facilitate a deeper understanding of our world. The project is interested in artwork that speaks to environmental issues and offers us an opportunity to intellectually and emotionally foster a healthy relationship with the natural world. Collage the Planet builds on Kolaj Institute’s Politics in Collage Project and overlaps with our inquiry into Trash as Material.
RECENT ACTIVITIES
Topography by Johanna Merfeld
dimensions variable (25 pieces); cardboard from recycle bin at the New Orleans Healing Center and bins on the streets of New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood; 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
2025
PROJECT LAUNCH
Trash as Material
In October 2025, Kolaj Institute opened an inquiry into Trash as Material. We brought together six artists in New Orleans to visit The Green Project and learn about how they process unwanted building materials and waste paint. They heard from New Orleans artist Jill Stoll about her “Lost Women” series and how she makes large woven artworks using post-consumer cardboard waste. The artists made artwork that is part of the exhibition, “Trash as Material” at Kolaj Institute Gallery 25 October to 29 November 2025. A Virtual Artist Residency will take place in November & December 2025 with an eye towards a second exhibition in 2026 and a book in 2027. Trash as Material builds on Kolaj Institute’s Politics in Collage Project and unfolds as a series of residencies, publications, discussions, and exhibitions that looks at how artists can use Trash to tell stories about our world. Trash as Material exists in the space between Place as Archive and the globality of politics and collage in that it is about the local speaking to a sense of place and also to the trans-continental movement of garbage and the impacts of that.
AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2026
Visit to the Green Project
Wednesday, 10 June 2026. You can call it refuse or detritus or reclaimed materials or recycling or you can call it what it is, Trash. In collage, materials are never neutral. From how they are sourced to how they are used, the material a collage is made of shapes the story and experience of the artwork. Since 1994, The Green Project organization has promoted “a culture of creative reuse by diverting usable materials from landfills and cultivating a respect for their value.” They operate a salvage store and paint recycling program in the Bywater. During this event, Kolaj Fest New Orleans participants were invited to meet with Erin Genrich, Environmental Education Coordinator at The Green Project where several artists in the 2025 exhibition sourced materials for their artworks. Genrich spoke about her experience working with the artists and the role The Green Project plays in redirecting trash in New Orleans away from landfills. The first hour was an informative tour of the project’s facilities after which, those who were interested were invited to stay and work with Genrich as she processed and experimented with recycled paint. LEARN MORE
PROJECT HISTORY
Image above: From the “Discarded and Caught” series by Jodie House
(12″x16″; photograph: locative collage; 2024-2025. Courtesy of the artist.)
OCTOBER 2025
RESIDENCY
Collage the Planet: Trash as Material
A five-day, in-person collage artist residency at Kolaj Institute in New Orleans, 20-24 October 2025.
During the “Collage the Planet: Trash as Material Artist Residency,” six artists came to New Orleans and developed a practice of using trash as materials and made artwork for Kolaj Institute Gallery exhibition, “Trash as Material“, 25 October-29 November 2025. They created work that explored environmentalism in art and made artwork that contributes to a broader dialogue on sustainability and ecological consciousness. They reflected on the balance between human activity and the environment and explored strategies to draw attention to issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and the impact of industrialization on our planet. This residency was particularly important to New Orleans, a city deeply connected to its natural surroundings and witness to ecological challenges and natural disasters that have left indelible marks on its landscape and community. Guest speakers included New Orleans collagist Jill Stoll and Erin Genrich, Environmental Education Coordinator at The Green Project.
Participating Artists: Denise Clemen (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA); Johanna Merfeld (Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA); Lauren Crasco (San Francisco, California, USA); Lindsay M Walker (Houston, Texas, USA); MADDY SNEEP (Austin, Texas, USA); Taeesha Muhammad (Brooklyn, New York, USA)
Image above: Indicator (Black Rail Bird) by Daniela Ruiz Perez
(20″x22.25″x3″; found images, maps, Mardi Gras beads, acrylic on paper; 2024. Courtesy of the artist.)
SPRING 2024
EXHIBITION
Collage the Planet: Environmentalism in Art
at Kolaj Institute Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 19 April to 26 May 2024. The health and wellbeing of our planet is a primary concern of a majority of adults1 in the United States and yet the complex social, political, and economic dynamics that shape our discourse around the environment can leave one feeling confused and powerless. How do we sort through such complexity and develop an understanding for ourselves of what an ethical and healthy relationship with the natural world could be? What is the relationship between our individual choices and the systemic change needed to bring humanity’s relationship with the natural world into harmony? How do we move beyond rhetoric, cliche, and performative actions and towards meaningful change?
Participating Artists: Jenn Arras (New York, New York, USA) | Jill Stoll (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) | Jonilyn Paige (Birmingham, Michigan, USA) | Krystal Anton (Kansas City, Missouri, USA) | LaVonna Varnado-Brown (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) | Liz Aukamp LaGarde (Frederick, Maryland, USA) | Madera Rogers-Henry (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) | Moira Crone (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) | Nancy Clingan (San Francisco, Nayarit, Mexico) | Ric Kasini Kadour (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA & Montreal, Quebec, Canada) | Teresa HR Lane (Matauri Bay, Kaeo, New Zealand) | Ava Werner (Los Osos, California, USA) | Carson Carrol (Charleston, South Carolina, USA) | Christopher Kurts (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) | Daniela Ruiz Perez (Columbia, Maryland, USA) | Duncan Richards (New York, New York, USA) | Jana Zimmer (Santa Barbara, California, USA) LEARN MORE
Image above: Label Hoe by Jonilyn Paige (31″x66″; magazine fragments and African batik fabric on cardboard; 2024). Label Hoe is a collage of high-end fashion labels on a Walmart moving box. Paige comes at this subject from a unique perspective having worked in the luxury retail industry and as a coordinator of mall operations where she observed consumerism and waste first hand. She also traveled to Windhoek, Namibia with the African Democracy Project to research Herero fashion. With this artwork, Paige speaks to issues of sustainability and consumerism and raises concern about the impact of fast fashion waste
APRIL 2024
RESIDENCY
Collage the Planet: Environmentalism in Art Artist Residency
The premise of the “Collage the Planet: Environmentalism in Art Artist Residency” is that science has the capacity to tell us how to care for the planet, but those solutions are meaningless if humanity doesn’t care enough to evolve and change. Art is a unique technology that can distill complexity into simple human gestures that, when experienced, facilitate a deeper understanding of our world. In short, art can be a tool for caring.
APRIL 2024
FESTIVAL
Earth Day 2024 Celebration
In honor of Earth Day 2024, Kolaj Institute hosted a series of events as part of The Recycle Challenge’s St. Claude Avenue Festival. On Saturday, 20 April 2024, members of the Mystic Krewe of Scissors & Glue and participants in the Collage the Planet Artist Residency joined The Recycle Challenge Parade as it passed by the corner of St. Claude and St. Roch Avenues. On Sunday, 21 April 2024, the opening reception took place for the exhibition, “Collage the Planet: Environmentalism in Art”. LEARN MORE