Hampton Roads is plagued by rising tides and socioeconomic tensions. While tensions have always existed, they often lurk beneath the surface. As sea levels rise, our region is forced to confront the challenges of increased flooding. 

The rising waters affect us all, but Black and Brown communities are most threatened by flooding. Neighborhoods that have long suffered from the effects of redlining, exclusionary zoning, discriminatory lending, racial covenants, racial steering, public housing policy, highway construction, hotter summer temperatures, proximity to toxic sights, food deserts, and segregated schools, are the same communities that are now most threatened by flooding. We can no longer ignore the on-going effects of segregated landscapes in our region.

The Rising Tides, Rising Tensions exhibit was inspired by a local partnership with the In[HEIR]itance Project, a national arts organization that creates space for communities to navigate challenging civic conversations through collaborative theater projects inspired by inherited texts, traditions, cultures, customs, and beliefs. In Hampton Roads, the process was inspired by the Exodus narrative and drew parallels between themes and ideas of exodus and the role that race has played in human migration throughout the region. The participatory playmaking process sparked regional dialogue about flooding, displacement, and racial disparities in Hampton Roads. 

The final play EXODUS: Homecoming was performed at the historic Attucks Theatre in May 2022 as a part of the 25th Anniversary of the Virginia Arts Festival. The original performance is a humorous and thought provoking drama that reimagines 7 cities in Coastal Virginia as an intergenerational family exploring the hidden (and not so hidden) struggles of the area.

Rising Tides, Rising Tensions was first installed in the lobby of the Attucks Theatre to create an immersive experience for audiences seeing the play. Created as a mobile installation, the lobby exhibit will travel to many locations across the region to see conversations and spark continued dialogue. The exhibit seeks to inspire us to examine our racial history, evaluate discriminatory practices in our present, and work together to create a future in which all people are elevated to equal ground.

The exhibit seeks to expose the imbalanced experience of those in Hampton Roads who have historically been privileged enough to use the front door vs. the experience of those who have been marginalized and forced to use the less desirable backdoor entrance.

The exhibit includes doors grouped together to create a maze-like experience. The visitor is first greeted with the “front door” entrance to the exhibit. From this perspective, the background of all the doors is painted white. The content presented leans more heavily towards “fluff” articles, happy stories, stories of privilege and examples of white flight. 

The visitor sees the doors plastered with local maps, newspaper articles, old photos- framed and unframed, and personal stories of connections to local history and geography. As visitors move through the exhibit, the feeling of rising waters emerges. The photos, maps and articles plastered on the walls increase in water damage until the visitor feels like they are also submerged in flooding.

If the visitor turns around and walks in the opposite direction through the exhibit, they will have the “back door” experience. From this perspective, the background of the doors is black. In the “back door” experience, the visitor will encounter material that highlights some of the darker stories in the history of our region. Visitors will confront stories of discrimination and inequities that led to human displacement and suffering throughout the history of our region.