Global Warning Art Exhibition

Abstract

This 2015 Original Creative Work exhibited 12 mixed media artworks about anthropogenic global warming (AGW), at Armidale's Woodlands Centre, an event of ANZSEE's Conference, 'Thriving Through Transformation' & SLA's 'Road to Paris' campaign. AGW is widely regarded as the planet's gravest problem, yet the necessary mass mitigation actions are yet to happen, partly because traditional scientific & political communication is not adequate alone for this unprecedented challenge. The arts can effectively raise awareness of the problems; stimulate solutions-based reflection, discussion & action at individual & community levels; & bring beauty & optimism to a disturbing issue. Featuring artworks created over 10 years, with multiple layers & possible interpretations, synthesising pictorially the artist's AGW research since 1984, it conveyed complex information in innovative & aesthetically-pleasing ways, covering interconnected themes such as individual responsibility for AGW; personal empowerment; the nature of social change; energy & food consumption; transport; colonialism, Aboriginal dispossession & their environmental impacts; emotional & psychological responses to AGW; intergenerational equity; steady state instead of growth-based economics; political choices; civil disobedience; & noncooperation, divestment & ethical investment. Significantly, the project overcame barriers to engagement with AGW mitigation planning, including inaccessibility of technical information, complexity, apathy, feelings of powerlessness, activist burnout, & 'issue fatigue'. It brought 130 people & a school art class to an eco-venue to reflect collectively on action options; generate new concepts & understandings with practical applications; & dramatise EcoArts Australis & Armidale Tree Group's role in combatting biodiversity loss (& raising $1155). It publicised the Paris climate summit, using traditional & social media.