From our Forefathers: Climate Crisis In Maritime History

Aislinn Pentecost-Farren guides participants through the colorful legacy of Philadelphia’s rivers and boatyards. Pentecost-Farren re-narrates the Seaport Museum’s permanent collection to find the origin stories of the climate crisis revealed by boat designs, captain’s orders, and marsh fumes. From ships in bottles to paintings of Philadelphia’s lost riverbanks, Pentecost-Farren illuminates our understanding of climate catastrophe by dredging its origins from our waterways. 

Aislinn Pentecost-Farren is an artist and public historian. She reframes museum collections, historic buildings, and overlooked landscapes as starting points for sculpture, writing, and public interventions. Her practice infiltrates existing systems of cultural reproduction to reveal new narratives within established histories and explore hindsight, responsibility, and time.