Cero Collective and Future Coalition Present TOKALA at The Shed

Earlier this month, as Climate Week NYC got underway, Cero Collective partnered with Future Coalition to present TOKALA, an exhibition of photography by Carlos Jaramillo with styling by Marcus Correa spotlighting America's QBIPOC climate and social justice youth organizers, at The Shed in New York. The series, which features twelve crucial voices from ten locations across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada, is the result of over a year of work by Jaramillo and Correa, along with the community organizer Thómas Lopez Jr., who traveled to each subject's home to capture the community and the land for which each is fighting. Curated by Selenas Mountain and designed by Graphic Services, the exhibition included an oversized portrait of each organizer along with supplementary images showing important aspects of their lives.

All twelve subjects, including Sumaya Bouhbal, Jace Charger, Alessandra Chavira, Rodney Evans, Danielle Rey Frank, Makasa Looking Horse, Yvonne “Von” Mahelona, Atlakatl Ce Tochtli Orozco, Jennifer Thompson, Isabel Valentín, Victor-Alan Weeks, and Brittany Woods-Orrison, gathered together in person for the first time at the vernissage on Friday evening, uniting a dozen frontline activists in a demonstration of the power of community. Lopez offered a blessing to the assembled guests, who filled the gallery space with energy before heading downtown to the Public Hotel for an exclusive reception with drinks courtesy of Johnnie Walker, Estrella Jalisco, and Stella Artois.

Over the course of the weekend, two panel discussions brought the organizers together again to speak about their crucial work. On Saturday, Correa hosted Charger, Chavira, Evans, Frank, Thompson, and Valentín to converse about the impact of intersectionality in their climate work. Sunday saw Lopez Jr. engage Bouhbal, Looking Horse, Mahelona, Orozco, Weeks, and Woods-Orrison to discuss their position in the modern movement space. Afterward, many of the organizers and guests went to join the afternoon's march against fossil fuels, with tens of thousands marching through the streets of New York to speak out against one of the greatest crises we are facing today.

Special thanks to H. Yuan, Seeding Sovereignty,
Stand.earth, and 350.org for their
generous support of this exhibition.

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