Houston TX. The most stigmatized people of Houston’s inner-city neighborhoods are not the growing elderly population but the young children of the community living amongst toxic waste, illegal dump sites and other environmental nightmares. In the face of dismal poverty, neglect and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping the harms of the environmental hazards that confront them around every corner, especially when one of the problems is a 36 acre toxic waste site across the street from their school and homes.

Through an innovative environmental awareness photo-art project, artist/activist, Rhonda Adams captures the journey of 10 Fifth Ward children as they learn about the hazards of the Many Diversified Interest (MDI) toxic waste site, located at 3617 Baer, in heart of their own community. Adams, co-founder of the Museum of Cultural Arts-Houston (MOCAH) and a volunteer for the Sierra Club, gives them lessons, cameras and art supplies, fueling the creative genius that dwells in these children who live in one of the poorest and most disenfranchised neighborhoods in Houston. Funded in part by a grant from the Community Toolbox for Children’s Environmental Health the activities in this project will serve as a model for others seeking innovative methods to address environmental issues in their own community.

The children learn about air, water and ground pollution through a hands-on multidisciplinary art curriculum design by Adams. These lessons help the children to identify and protect themselves from health risks that are associated with the contaminants found on the toxic waste site, specifically lead. By juxtaposing photography and visual art into environmental education the children learn to create highly intuitive messages reflective of mankind’s mass consumption and degradation of the planet.

Their artwork defies the typical rainbow and blue sky finger paintings of young children but serve as hyper-graphic interpretations of the inner-city underbelly of an environmental catastrophe. Adams has spent the last 3 years with these kids and her creativity and activism has become part of their lives as they have become a part of hers. Adams, who lives just blocks away from the toxic waste site feels that it is her moral obligation to do this type of work. “I have a young child of my own and I realize that one day we will have to rely on these children to become the stewards of the community so the younger we reach them with this knowledge and information the sooner they will understand how they can make a difference”, says Adams. The artwork produced by the children does not simply reflect their innate creativity; the work paints a bigger picture, it portrays a social value we all can embrace: all children deserve a safe and healthy community.

The children’s artwork will exhibit along with over 30 photographs from around the world which depict mankind’s degradation of the environment during Fotofest Festival, March 16-April 22, 2006. The exhibition, Artists Responding to Violence Against the Earth, will open March 16, 2006 from 6pm-9pm at the new gallery space of the Museum of Cultural Arts-Houston, located at 908 Wood St. Suite 120, Houston Texas 77002.

This project is a community outreach partnership between the Sierra Club, the Community Toolbox for Children’s Environmental Health, the Museum of Cultural Arts-Houston, City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department, and the City of Houston Health and Human Services Childhood Lead Poison Prevention Program. For more information contact Rhonda Adams at 713.298.7693 or email rhonda@mocah.org

This project is sponsored by the Museum of Cultural Arts Houston (MOCAH), Sierra Club and the Community Toolbox for Children's Environmental Health. For more images of created artwork click here.