I am thrilled to introduce an incredible artist and change maker, Dora Napolitano—a textile artist living in Mexico City. Dora is already making a real impact with her collaborative art. She recently began working with me through my Art in Action Mentorship Program, with a focus on scaling her impact AND supporting her family.

Introducing Artist and Change Maker Dora Napolitano

Dora represents a Latin American collective called Zurciendo el Planeta (Darning the Planet), which uses participatory textile art made from old clothes to invite people to reflect on their relationship with the natural world and share messages of hope around the climate crisis. Their work encourages action at every level of society. Zurciendo el Planeta is convinced that a regenerative and equitable future is still possible.

Dora lives with her family in Mexico City where she spent the last few years transforming their apartment to demonstrate that even in the most built-up areas of the most massive cities on Earth it is possible to live with doing less damage to nature. She is increasingly convinced that it is possible to even live regeneratively (doing MORE good than harm!!) if only we can re-imagine cities differently to how we know them today.

This belief that we can re-imagine how we live is an incredible gift that Dora is giving to her community, and all of us. The collective’s project, "The Forest of Hope", was originally created for and installed at COP26 in November of 2021. It is currently touring Mexico to spread the word that small scale individual and collective actions are the beginning of turning widespread apathy into a wave of grass roots action for a healthy climate.

“Forest of Hope” Installation at Universum, Museum of Science in Mexico City.

In this shot, you can see the main bilingual banner and LOTS of trees. This is in a community hall (rescued from demolition by the community) in Brighton, UK, a week before COP26.

Dora hopes to unleash, through collective and community art, a movement of imagination across a continent where too many people are afraid of climate chaos but think there is nothing they can do about it. Everybody can and must contribute to building the future we want to live in.

Dora is literally living into the creative culture shift—with her art and her lifestyle.

The back of Dora’s shirt says: “Mending your clothes is an act of resistance”, and the whole shirt is made of her friend’s dad’s old shirts.

I am incredibly inspired by the work of Dora and her collective. Their work can inspire all of us to greater action within our own communities. Dora is literally living into the creative culture shift—with her art and her lifestyle. Her work is already making an impact in ways she couldn’t have imagined just a short time ago. Thank you, Dora, for the gift of saying YES to your calling and working to create a world where we ALL can thrive.

The collective is planning to take “The Forest of Hope” on to Argentina and Chile in 2023. If you know of anyone who could help with locations and/or funding for this inspiring journey, please contact Dora at napolitano.dora@gmail.com.

Whether you are just getting started with collaborative art, or are already making an impact, it is time to take the next step in your journey. We need your genius now. I have just one spot left in my 3-month Art in Action Mentorship Program. If you mention hearing about it here, I’ll give you a special offer—set up your call now!