Portraits of Climate Change

In February 2026, Carolina Public Humanities took advantage of a pause between the Eastern and Western phases of our “Portraits of Climate Change” project and held a pop-up gallery opening in Chapel Hill. This event was part of the university’s annual Engagement Week, a five-day series of programs meant to highlight the many ways in which UNC scholars are engaging with the public. In the past, Engagement Week has tended to focus on STEM projects, so organizers were especially eager to include our event. Like us, they saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate that it is not just UNC’s scientific researchers who are serving the people of the state; artists, writers, and humanists are also engaging with the public in ways that enrich public conversation, encourage community connection, and cultivate opportunities for action and change.

For the pop-up, we hung the living room of the Love House with framed photographs from the original issue of Southern Cultures (“Snapshot: Climate”) that have formed the backbone of our traveling exhibit. We also displayed winning images from the photo contests we’ve held around the state, and printed booklets that included additional photographs and essays from participants in Wayne, Pitt, and Dare Counties. Undergraduates, faculty, staff, and members of the public drifted through, took in the art, andchatted with us about the project. After the open house, we held a panel discussion that put the editors of Southern Cultures into conversation with Justin Cook, one of the journalists featured in “Snapshot: Climate”. Justin reflected on the incredible local resilience he has witnessed as he has covered climate change around the state. His remarks stressed the value of the hyper-local, as he encouraged attendees to pay attention to how differently climate change manifests in various landscapes and communities.

One of the people who attended our event that day was Kelly Bodie of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. She was so excited by what she saw that she invited us to bring the pop-up to NC Climate Week. Through this connection, our small event wound up having a large impact on our work, bringing us into a new space and connecting us to a new network of North Carolinian environmental organizations.

~ Joanna Flynn, Associate Director for Statewide Outreach & Strategic Collaborations, Carolina Public Humanities