“Since 2007, Mendel has traveled the globe photographing victims of high-impact flooding,” museum director Marc-Olivier Wahler said at the Water Moves MSU event on Tuesday.

Mendel’s series, called “Drowning World," is “his personal response to climate change," according to his website. The portraits show flood victims partially submerged in floodwater.

Mendel won the 2016 Greenpeace Photo Award for the series.

Several of these portraits have been placed along the Red Cedar River as part of the Water Moves MSU initiative.

“It has expanded beyond the museum’s walls,” Wahler said, adding that the museum plans to continue adding art installations around campus in the near future.

The Broad is choosing to highlight Mendel’s work to make students think about ways climate change could affect them, director of public relations Whitney Stoepel said.

“The Red Cedar runs through campus and we may pass over it or near it every day,” Stoepel said. “The installation of these works of art along the Red Cedar are a symbolic gesture highlighting how water and climate change impact our lives.”

The museum will host guided tours of the installment in October and November, including a special bicycle tour at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7.

This installment is part of the Broad’s “ongoing commitment to university initiatives, and in particular Water Moves MSU,” Wahler said.

Beginning in January, the Broad will feature art by artist Jan Tichy in collaboration with Flint high school students, also a part of Water Moves MSU, Wahler said.

“We also hope that people will post on social media about ways they are reducing their impact on the environment,” Stoepel said. 

Students can join the conversation by using the hashtag #WaterMovesMSU.