Nancy Agati

Basins & Borders

2022

Nancy Agati (she/her/hers) is a Philadelphia artist whose multidisciplinary work includes works on paper, sculpture, textile, site-specific installation, and public art. Agati holds a BFA from Alfred University, School of Art & Design, NY, and an MFA from The University of the Arts, Philadelphia. She has exhibited her work widely throughout Philadelphia and nationally, with exhibitions at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia, PA; Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC; Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, NY; and The Calandra Italian American Institute, NY. Recent sculptural installations about nature and the environment were created for the New Jersey Coastal Climate Resilience Project in Atlantic City, the FLOW exhibit at The Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia; and We All Fall Down at The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia.

Basins and Borders shared the benefits of permeable surfaces as a mitigation strategy for residents in urban areas who experience flooding in their neighborhoods. Visitors to the workshop arranged permeable materials such as stone, gravel, sand, and soil within the container basins. The surfaces were then soaked with water to observe rates of absorption and drainage through the basin screens. The project made visible the relationship between water absorption, drainage, runoff, and flooding while presenting beautifying urban land design solutions. The basin tools and auxiliary resource information will be utilized for future public art and education programs about climate change resiliency.