Fragile Futures
Mural | 2025
Delaware Arts Alliance, Narrowsburg NY
This mural explores the promises and consequences of fracking on our communities and environment. Each bubble holds a vision offered by the fracking industry - economic growth, royalties for landowners, untouched ecosystems that support thriving farms, clean water, and longevity. These images suggest hope and possibility, but as they reach the mural’s edge, they burst - leaving only a desolate, monotone landscape behind. The mural invites viewers to question which futures are real, which are illusions, and what is at stake when industry moves into our communities.
The mural is the result of a collaborative process rooted in community voice and storytelling. Inspired by interviews with people living in fracking-impacted communities in Ohio, these stories were shared, discussed, and visualized in a community workshop held in Narrowsburg, NY. Artists Frida Foberg and Kayla Jolin refined the ideas into a cohesive design, which was then painted together with community members and visitors. This participatory approach is central to the artists’ practice - creating space for shared reflection while allowing more people to feel agency and ownership over the artwork in their town.
The mural was created in collaboration with Kayla Jolin and organized by Delaware Arts Alliance, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and the Ohio Valley Allies as part of their project Frack, Crack, Boom, Bang: A call for artists to uplift voices of those touched by fracking and extraction from our landscapes.
Participants
Abraham Beery, Amanda Champenio, Amanda Serini, Antonio Fernando, Ariel Shanberg, Bhavna Bhagchandani, Camille DelPalazzo, Catherine Montesi, Collette Ballew, Derek Baum, Dominic Birnbaum, Emma Stein, Ethan Wood, Graciela Szwarcberg, Jill Hunkler, John D Pineda, Judah Beery, Liv Fernando, Lola Beery, Marvin Blakely, Miles, Mya Fernando, Nancy Green Saraisky, Ritu Bhagchandani, Rodger Pepere, Siena Letta, Simon, Tal Beery, Tanner Simon, Tanya Kalivas, Taylor Elise Baum, Theodora H Brown, Torey Donato Tishler, Trinity Oribio, William Morris, William Porter, Willow Gatewood and Zeid Ghawi