New Orleans, Louisiana
2007-2009
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Operation Paydirt, conceived by conceptual artist Mel Chin, initiated an interdisciplinary coalition to remediate lead contaminated soil in New Orleans, which poisons children at one of the highest rates in the country. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina exposed the presence of lead soils, beckoning the charge to rebuild the city, from below the ground up, to provide a healthful foundation for citizens to return to.

The Operation doubles its efforts as both a fund-raising campaign, led by Chin, and an action plan, Big Mud, that combines art, science and design to remediate over 86,000 sites across the city. Working across scales of a civic imperative, design strategies activate barges, trucks and wheelbarrows, powered by newly trained job krewes, to distribute information and bioremediation ingredients for the cultivation of safe landscapes and healthy neighborhoods.

Clients + Collaborators

Mel Chin, conceptual artist; Howard Mielke, environmental toxicologist; Andrew Hunt, environmental scientist; Tulane Center for Bioenvironmental Research; Lead Lab; Private New Orleans home owners; University of Virginia School of Architecture students 

Kudos

Funded in part by Transforma Arts Coalition

Awards + Publications

Steward Pickett, et al. editors, Resilience in Urban Ecology and Design: Linking Theory and Practice for Sustainable Cities, (New York: Springer, 2013)