Cameron Russell & Mei Tao: “Supremely Unequivocal in Our Commitment to this Moment of Being” Opening Day

About this event

Join Queens Botanical Garden for the opening of Supremely Unequivocal in Our Commitment to this Moment of Being, an interactive exhibition by Cameron Russell and Mei Tao, created in collaboration with sixty-one young farmer-artists from Harlem Grown. About the Exhibition: Supremely Unequivocal in Our Commitment to this Moment of Being is an invitation to co-author with children and the living world. The exhibition takes its title from poet, parent, and Poetry for the People founder June Jordan’s 1977 essay The Creative Spirit: Children’s Literature, in which she wrote of children as serious, capable, and deeply committed to the present moment. Inspired by Jordan’s work, Tao and Russell set out to think alongside young people about everything from pressing injustices to astonishing beauty. Through photography, sculpture, performance, poetry, and drawing, the artists and sixty-one young farmer-artists from Harlem Grown explore how we might create a city that is more welcoming to humans, animals, and plants alike. At the center of the project are play, improvisation, and collaboration—ways of being and creating that allow young people to participate, experiment, and lead. Throughout the process, the natural world became a collaborator as well. During one afternoon at the farm, rain began to fall and the children leapt from their drawings, tied on pollinator wings, and ran through the garden blowing kisses into the rain. The moment reflects botanist and writer Robin Wall Kimmerer’s invitation to consider our relationship with the earth not as one-sided, but as reciprocal and rooted in care. Tao, Russell, and the young artists invite visitors of all ages to commit to their own moment of being: play with light, shadow, wind, and sound; create with plants and one another; and consider how care, creativity, and collaboration can shape the environments we share. About the Artists: Friends and creative collaborators Mei Tao and Cameron Russell met more than 20 years ago on a fashion set, where—seated on either side of the camera—they connected over a shared appreciation of photography as a powerful tool for collaboration. For the past five years, Tao and Russell have created art as, for, and with caregivers across the world. Their collaborations have included seed-savers in Italy, teachers in New York State, children migrating across the Americas, domestic workers organizing in Mexico, parents resisting state violence across the United States, and their own children, families, and friends. Their work approaches caregiving as an art form that can be learned, practiced, taught, and aspired to. This year, Tao and Russell are fellows at Stanford School of Medicine, exploring interdisciplinary efforts to improve caregiving across the lifespan. Tao’s recent work includes Passing Through, a portfolio exploring the mother’s gaze, opening at Photobook Café Gallery in London in November 2026, and Homecoming, an official selection at the Austin Spotlight Film Festival and New York Indie Shorts Awards. Russell is the author of How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone (Random House, 2024), a political coming-of-age memoir about twenty years spent working and organizing in the fashion industry. Her next book explores care work, gestation, and the climate crisis. Instagram: @cameronrussell @taomeitao RSVP Here.