Q&A: Walter Hood’s Vision for Renewing Neglected Urban Spaces

Last year marked a widespread reckoning with racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and amid a pandemic disproportionately affecting communities of color. But that’s not what prompted Oakland artist and designer Walter Hood, 2019 recipient of both the Dorothy & Lillian Gish Prize and a MacArthur Fellowship, to focus on social justice and the environment. "I have always paid attention to that," he says. "Environmental degradation is linked to how we value the people on the land."