Xavier Cortada

Who is Xavier Cortada?

Xavier Cortada is an American painter who now resides in Miami, Florida. His work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and cultural venues across the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

Cortada has created art installations in the Earth's poles to generate awareness about global climate change: in 2007 he used the moving ice sheet beneath the South Pole as an instrument to mark time; the art piece will be completed in 150,000 years. In 2008 Cortada planted a green flag at the North Pole to reclaim it for nature and in so doing launch a global reforestation eco-art effort.

Cortada has developed participatory art projects to engage communities in local action. In Florida he has worked with scientists, arborists and environmental managers to develop eco-art projects that engage community residents in bioremediation: coastal reforestation initiatives in Miami, an urban reforestation campaign in St. Petersburg, and coral reef preservation efforts in Hawaii.

Cortada has worked with groups internationally to produce art projects and installations, such as environmental works in Holland, Quebec and Latvia, peace murals in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, child-welfare murals in Bolivia and Panama, and the official International AIDS Conference murals in Geneva and South Africa.