Janie Stamm 

Janie Stamm was born and raised on the edge of the Everglades in Broward County, Florida. She is a craft-based artist currently residing on the western banks of the Mississippi River in Saint Louis, Missouri. Her work focuses on preserving Florida’s environmental and Queer history in the face of climate change. She uses a craft-based practice to tell these stories.

Janie has received a John T. Milliken Foreign Travel Graduate Award, Regional Arts Commission grant, Critical Mass grant, Dubinsky Scholarship to study at the Fine Arts Work Center, and the Frida Kahlo Creative Arts Award from Washington University in St. Louis. She has been an artist in residence at ACRE in Wisconsin, at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, Aquarium Gallery in New Orleans, and a teaching artist at CAM St. Louis. Her work was featured on the December 2016 cover of POETRY magazine.

The State of Florida is under threat from the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels are creeping up on to Florida’s coast, eroding the beaches and encroaching on heavily populated cities. Over my lifetime I will watch the water spill over the streets of my home town. I will watch the water flood the Everglades, pushing saltwater into freshwater habitats. I will watch the water begin to drown the state, taking Florida’s many little known histories along with it.

Through my art, I tell the story of nature and Queerness in the State of Florida. Nature and Queerness are in direct relation to one another. Appearing to exist as two parallels, nature and Queer folks often reflect each other. Both are under constant threat from the actions and inactions of people. Using craft-based techniques, like papier mache and embroidery, I tell these stories through historical facts, personal narratives, and possibilities for the future. Specifically those that have shaped me into the person I am today. The work I make serves as a document of existence, resilience, and survival during the Anthropocene.