About Spirit of the River

In this multi-component project, entitled Spirit of the River, we are honoring the soul of the Anacostia River in Ward 7. Through the art of large-scale processional sculpture and more intimately scaled doll making, the project focuses on water quality and plastic pollution in Ward 7,  invoking community healing and environmental stewardship.  The Anacostia River is the forgotten and invisible river no longer. In being seen in various marches and advocacy actions around the city with our partner 3RC for DC it is our hope that our sculpture serves as the physical embodiment of the river, flowing through the city, undeniable and potent in its demands for environmental justice.

Spirit of the River recognizes that deity takes form in many shapes and sizes. We wanted to create an intimate doll-making workshop that connects to the sculpture. Our workshops engage Ward 7 youth and seniors in crafting their own river spirit dolls, serving as vessels for healing and self-expression while connecting them to the Anacostia’s rich, complex history. Through this creative process, participants will learn about the impact of plastic pollution and contribute to environmental preservation by using bottles collected from the river for use in their dolls—turning harmful waste into meaningful art. We hope to channel the knowledge and essence of how a clean River can benefit the community. These dolls will be fashioned with care and will become vessels of environmental stewardship, advocating for the preservation of our natural heritage of a clean safe Anacostia.

When we first approached this project, we thought our environmental justice research would take us into topics of flood mitigation or calculating the chemical and biological pollutants in the Anacostia. Yet in speaking with our community partners at Green Urban Arts Collective (GUAC) we learned that one of the chief environmental concerns in Ward 7 is simply the never ending stream of plastic litter that is accumulating in the community.  Our research into plastic waste led us to our other community partner: 3RC for DC. They are a growing coalition of environmental and community groups campaigning for the establishment of a return-refund-recycle system, with a key piece of legislation being a DC Bottle Bill.