Talking about climate change #20

Another way to look at climate change (6 minute read)

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Coral cemeteries forming around us,

Damaged reefs that surround us...

from Our Ancestors Speak

Today’s article has its origin a few months ago, when Substack launched Notes. If you haven’t checked it out, Notes is a bit like Twitter or Threads, only there are no ads, and who you see depends on who you subscribe to on Substack. Since I subscribe to a lot of interesting and decent people, I’ve found it a lovely online space. Did I mention there are no ads?

Here is a link to Substack Notes if you haven’t found it yet.

Notes | Substack

Anyway, when I joined Notes, I came across a number of new writers who were interested in climate change. But I didn’t just find writers. Notes is a great space for artists, and I came across Nicole Kelner’s work. Kelner paints watercolours about climate change. And they are beautiful. They bring a smile to my face and soothe my spirit.

Here is one of her posts and one of her more emotive watercolours, in response to the forest fires in Canada.

Orange Skies and Teary Eyes (artsandclimatechange.com)

And here is a link to her main page.

Arts and Climate Change with Nicole Kelner | Substack

Kelner’s work made me want to look at more climate change-related art, and to share it with you. So, this week I have found work from around the world to help bring you some different perspectives. I hope that these works help you have some different kinds of conversations about climate change with your friends and family.

Butterflies on Heliotropum arboreum, Niue (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

Earth Matters

The following images are all from African artists who are using art to raise awareness of environmental issues, including climate change. Particularly arresting is the photograph from Burkina Faso artist Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, one of a series called The Hell of Copper. Less confonting, but still powerful, is the painting by a Nigerian artist Jerry Buhari, called Fall and Spill History. These works illustrate an uncomfortable counterpoint. The extraction of oil has done immeasurable harm to the environment, but other technologies are not without impacts.

National Museum of African Art | Earth Matters (1 minute read, six images)

Yale Climate Connections

The following article profiles eight artists with very different approaches to documenting environmental issues. I think my favourite work is by Catherine Sarah Young from the Philippines. She has used some unusual materials, to say the least. The heart, cast in resin coloured with ash from the 2019 Australian bushfires, particularly struck me, as did her “sewage soap”, since sewage has been on my mind so much lately.

8 artists who are grappling with climate change and imagining a better world » Yale Climate Connections (16 minute read, about 20 images)

Track Zero

Track Zero is a New Zealand-based project to link the arts with climate action. On their website, you can see the photographs taken by school students as part of their Through the Eye of the Lens project. This is a project which explores how young people view climate change. Students participating in the project learn from professional photographers and climate scientists, then share the photographs they have taken in response to what they have learned.

I’ve linked below to the images from students at Wainuiomata High School. If you click on each image, you can see a larger version, as well as what the student has said about it. If you go to the top right of the page, where it says Through the Eye of the Lens, you can find collections of photographs from other locations, right around New Zealand.

Wainui exhibition - Track Zero (10 images)

Art and protest

The following article, from The Atlantic, talks about the recent protests where climate activists have defaced artworks to draw attention to climate change. The author suggests that their approach is not likely to win much support, but then goes on to discuss a better connection between art and climate change – the work of eco-artists. These artists are creating art works which help us look differently at the world, raise awareness of environmental problems and foster action. I especially enjoyed the work of the artist who uses smog to create her artworks. Yes, smog.

The Other Climate-Change Art Protest - The Atlantic (9 minute read)

(The Atlantic has a paywall, but you get one article free per month.)

Pacific voices

Mana Moana is a collection of video art works created by Māori and Pasifica artists as a call to action on climate change. The line of poetry I’ve included at the start of this article comes from the video Our Ancestors Speak. You can make this video play in full screen and I suggest you do, because it’s stunning. The words are powerful too. I picked a couple of lines that spoke to me to use at the start of this article, but there was another that really hit me too – islands teach you brutal lessons.

I heard those words and I was taken back 20 years, when I was lucky enough to visit Niue. It was a few months after Cyclone Heta, and I was doing some work to support the recovery. Everywhere on the island, I could see signs of the cyclone’s impact. It wasn’t just cyclone damage that I saw either. There were many abandoned houses, falling into disrepair as people moved away. While I was there, the ship which visited every three weeks arrived, and I saw how difficult it was to bring any cargo to the island.

The black dot in the branches of the right hand tree is a car tyre which was blown there during the cyclone (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

But I saw, too, signs of resilence. Trees which had been stripped bare by the salt wind were resprouting. Taro fields which had been flattened were lovingly tended and flourishing once again. The site of the destroyed hospital had been cleaned up, and it had been rebuilt safely inland. The weed control programmes which had been underway to protect their forests were being restarted (that’s why I was there).

Niue is a speck of rock in the vast Pacific. As a nation, it’s just one island. When you look out at the ocean, that’s all there is, no neighbours just over the horizon. They must have learned some brutal lessons in figuring out how to live there, but they had done it. I marvel at the skill and determination of the people who found it and made it their home.

Well, that was an unexpected diversion. I didn’t intend to write about Niue, or dig out my old photographs. It’s just what happened when I watched that video. I encourage you to check it out yourself – it’s the first one on the page below.

Pacific Voices - Mana Moana (11 videos, varying lengths including Our Ancestors Speak, 10 minute video)

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