Realigning with Nature: A Conversation with MacArthur Fellows

How can art, design and literature deepen connections between people and nature and help foster flourishing habitats for all?

MacArthur Fellows Jeanne Gang, J. Drew Lanham and Elizabeth Turk will explore this question through conversations about how cultural narratives shape the ways people respond to the natural world, how cities can support bird and other wildlife populations, and how creative practices can inspire community action for environmental change.

These themes connect to CAC’s ongoing exhibition, Flyway City: Architecture for a Flourishing Ecosystem, designed and co-curated by Studio Gang. The exhibition highlights approaches to creating healthier urban habitats and addressing bird collisions with building glass, a problem that kills more than 1 billion birds each year in the United States.

More on our speakers:

• Architect Jeanne Gang, founding partner of Studio Gang, designs places that strengthen relationships among people, communities, and the natural environment. She is a leading practitioner and advocate for bird-safe design and improving biodiversity in cities.
• Writer, ornithologist, and conservationist J. Drew Lanham strives to connect ecological research to cultural narratives and lived experiences. His work situates scientific knowledge within personal and historical contexts, broadening how audiences engage with conservation.
• Sculptor Elizabeth Turk makes marble works that explore fragility and resilience in the natural world. Her series Echoes of Extinction, created with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, transforms the calls of endangered and extinct birds into sound sculptures that memorialize species loss and prompt reflection on coexistence.
• Moderator Alison Cuddy is a Chicago-based writer, interviewer and cultural producer exploring art, architecture, and the natural world. She regularly leads conversations with writers and thinkers, among them Amy Tan, Margaret Atwood, Rachel Maddow, Al Gore and Michael Pollan.