Commonweal’s latest art exhibition celebrated four years of ORA through the large-scale art and digital collage of artist Jon Marro. These pieces grew alongside ORA itself — commissioned to accompany stories submitted by fellows and grantees as the work unfolded in real time. Seen together now, they form something larger: a visual record of resilience, resistance, and imagination from across the globe.
For four years, ORA has been asking a misleadingly simple question: What is happening in our world, and how do we respond? The answers came not from think tanks or policy summits, but from underground journalists and crusading geographers, bridge-building poets and wisdom keepers, biologists who listen to rivers and musicians who carry tradition into the future.
ORA Global is a project of Commonweal, created to support community-rooted responses to today’s overlapping ecological, cultural, and social crises — 63 fellows, 30 research teams, three regional anchors across India, Africa, and Latin America. What it became, over time, was something no one fully anticipated: a global learning community — a model of what happens when we share local responses to overlapping global crises.
Go Deeper
Watch Program Director Mark Valentine reflect on the project and its ongoing legacy.
More About the Artist
Jon Marro’s work explores the intersection of ecology, spirituality, and social change. He collaborates regularly with disruptive thinkers including Bayo Akomolafe, Resmaa Menakem, and The Emerald Podcast, bringing to ORA’s stories a visual depth that matches their complexity. Explore more of his work at jonmarro.com.
ORA will continue sharing findings and stories from our global community through the end of the year. Explore fellows, research, and podcasts at orawards.org, and support Commonweal’s ongoing resilience work at commonweal.org/donate.
