ClimateCultures is pleased to present our Creative Showcase: an evolving collection of new and recent works from our members: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, film, audio or visual art, courses, projects and other works from our network of artists, curators and researchers exploring creative responses to ecological and climate change.
Portfolio
Our members’ portfolio features more than 25 unique works, including: ** a novel exploring normal people’s attempts to confront urgent environmental issues ** a performance video and gallery highlighting the crisis for our oceans and wildlife from our oil and plastics dependency ** a video combining original artworks on our changing planet and prsonal narration on the science involved and the significance of these impacts ** music on the need for non-harm in our relationships with the natural world ** online stand up comedy with insights for how we can communicate climate change with humour and compassion ** composite photography and video that witnesses creative community resistance to the corporate felling of 112 trees ** an exhibition using maps to provide a visual voice on the fragile equilbrium of our social and ecological systems ** a poetic film that speaks from the perspective of the land 100 years in the future ** a poem asking how would the climate feel being messed around in this way ** an artist book of images and texts on land and history ** poetry & prose poem collections speaking to a need for connection with the growing world ** two novels of the near future ** an essay on belonging here and now in our connections with nature ** online art shows for climate action and recovery from pandemic ** an online course for nurturing ecological literacy within the creative sector ** a zine exploring the experience we’re on the edge of ** books celebrating the love in relationships with rescued wild animals, the role of snow in cultures around the world, the opportunities for a wooded future and practical choices now to reduce carbon emissions ** and comic books reimagining the classic Wizard of Oz for a 21st-century world of science and magic, and the adventures of Captain Polo – the climate change bear…
Creative Showcase contributors: Nadine Andrews, Julian Bishop, Nancy Campbell, Laura Coleman, Jo Dacombe, Evgenia Emets, Cathy Fitzgerald, Michael Gresalfi, Brit Griffin, Stanley Grill, Alan Hesse, Sarah Hymas, Jacqui Jones, Neil Kitching, Jennifer Leach, Bill McGuire, Sally Moss, Selva Ozelli, Rod Raglin, Oliver Raymond-Barker, Katrin Spranger, Robin Walter & Quentin Young.
Archive
Our Creative Showcase is a space for members to share a recent piece that reflects their present work, an aspect of their overall practice or a current issue of great interest or concern. As a whole, the evolving showcase gives a snapshot of what inspires and energises the ClimateCultures community and it is open to all. If members contribute additional pieces for the showcase, we make sure their previous contributions are archived and can continue to be enjoyed. In our Creative Showcase archive, you will now find earlier works from Michael Gresalfi, Stanley Grill & Selva Ozelli.
Rather than aiming at overt eco-fi or cli-fi markets, Rod Raglin‘s novels use romance, action or mystery genres to feature normal people confronting urgent environmental issues. “Preaching to the converted doesn’t enlist new members in the battle to save our planet. I attempt to write entertaining books that appeal to a larger spectrum of society.” … Continue reading “Mad Maggie and the Wisdom of the Ancients” “As a guarded optimist, my panels present a hopeful outcome for both our species and for all life forms we share our existence with.” Michael Gresalfi‘s seven-panel installation offers an opportunity for self-reflection, making creative use of styrofoam with melted wax, acrylics and a heat gun to reflect humanity’s darker side and visions of a … Continue reading ““What Man Has Wrought”” “1.8 takes a critical view on the approximately 706 million gallons of waste oil that enter the ocean every year”. Katrin Spranger‘s piece powerfully uses performance with oil itself to bring home the global impact of pollution and waste on our oceans and wildlife, visually depicting how much crude oil we consume and release daily. … Continue reading “1.8” “Much of my music is composed as a means to encourage others to think about the possibility of world peace.” Stanley Grill‘s four-piece composition expresses the ancient Jain, Hindu and Buddhist concept of ‘ahimsa’ — ‘non-harm’ in our relationship with the rest of the natural world — in his learning not only from great historic … Continue reading “AHIMSA” “At times it can feel frivolous, or even treacherous, to keep laughing. But let’s not let the bastards get us down in the mouth, eh? Humour is forever a massive asset in the quest to maintain sanity and joy, and to speak truth to power.” With her improv background and a course from the Sustainable Stand … Continue reading “Sustainable Stand Up – Tackling Climate Change with Humour” “We decided that what we could do was to let the trees and the space know they were not alone … in community, communicate to them how deeply they are loved, and to be with them through their impending violation. Action in this sacred sense transcends human politics, bypasses it.” With composite photography and video, … Continue reading “Standing Tall, 2022” “The installations highlight our preoccupation with physical boundaries but also consider thresholds of thought and the necessity for a shared sense of purpose.” Six artworks from multi-media artist Jacqui Jones utilise maps to provide a visual voice and fire the imagination on the fragile equilbrium of our social and ecological systems and themes of sustainability … Continue reading “Mapping Vulnerability – Finding a Visual Voice” “The project is a reflection on community and landscape and how these interact in space and within time.” Art of Shading the Sun, a poetic film from Evgenia Emets, speaks from the perspective of the land 100 years in the future, of a community and a landscape moving from extractivist practices to more regenerative approaches. … Continue reading “Art of Shading the Sun” “The transboundary nature of digital art has allowed me to participate in fifteen international art shows during September.” Selva Ozelli has been busy making art shows and interviewing artists, museums and international NGOs to support Net Zero Festival London and its aims to be a catalyst towards a net zero, equitable and resilient future. “Our … Continue reading “Art at Net Zero Festival London” “I always feel uneasy placing the self at the centre of a piece – the planet doesn’t and shouldn’t care a jot about my own views.” Julian Bishop‘s poem asks how would the climate feel being messed around in this way – drawing on myths of an evil fairy child substituted for a human baby. … Continue reading “Changeling” “I see this as an anti-camera, one that does not strive for resolution and clarity … but instead seeks to capture the essence of place whilst also providing sanctuary for the artist.” In Trinity, Oliver Raymond-Barker‘s camera obscura images combine with commissioned texts, offering complex, interconnected narratives of land and histories of spirituality, protest, control. … Continue reading “Trinity” “There are more than a million heartbeats … nothing is like mine.” In her discovery of a remarkable rainforest community of people and animals, Laura Coleman explores the meaning of love and rescue against backdrops of deforestation, illegal animal trafficking and forest fires, and the work of a pioneering charity created by young Bolivian volunteers. … Continue reading “The Puma Years: A Memoir” “Both books speak to my ongoing need for connection and intra-veloping with the growing world. They explore how I experience what I breathe, how water, soil and grasses unfold from me and I from them.” In melt and the hispering, Sarah Hymas encourages us to rethink, blur, mix up, remake the stories we’ve been told. … Continue reading “Melt & The Hispering” “Unaware of last night’s events, the next day our friends resume their journey. Once again, the powerful ocean currents drag them ever southwards…” In Alan Hesse‘s comic book, Pole to Pole, Captain Polo leaves his disrupted Arctic home, seeking better hunting grounds. Unbeknown to him, he has onboard a mysterious stowaway with his own agenda. … Continue reading “Pole to Pole” “Even where I live in Scotland, I am aware of the changing climate around me.” In Carbon Choices, Neil Kitching moves beyond our frustration with the lack of action to tackle climate change and nature loss over the past 30 years to set out the practical ways that governments, businesses and individuals can change now. … Continue reading “Carbon Choices” “Now you must be careful. The Wicked Weather of the West is a cunning shapeshifter.” Quentin D. Young‘s comic-book, The Wizard of O2 re-imagines the classic tale to bring us back to the Land of Oz for a 21st-century adventure in science and magic, creating space for humor and hope in the face of climate catastrophe. … Continue reading “The Wizard of O2” “Imagine these islands with large forests, small woods and a countryside dotted with trees, covering about a third of the land.” Robin Walter’s new book, Living with Trees, traces our long associations with woodland since the Ice Age, noting what we’ve lost, celebrating our remaining ancient woodland and trees, and calling for a wooded future. … Continue reading “Living with Trees” “The snow lay in waist-high drifts, and kept falling. I’d gone to Iceland to write about snow, but I found that snow had other ideas…” Nancy Campbell‘s new book, Fifty Words for Snow, reflects on snow’s role in cultures around the world and the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity in a rapidly changing world. … Continue reading “Fifty Words for Snow” “I wanted to start the zine because I needed the outlet for myself, to try to connect with other people through my own rage and hope. I found that many others needed this too.” Jo Dacombe‘s IMMINENT explores the experience we’re on the edge of: climate emergency, nature connectedness, working together, grief, loss, determination, optimism. … Continue reading “Imminent: a Zine on Emergency and Connectedness” “This is a comprehensive introductory course, as ecoliteracy is a big topic. It means becoming familiar with ecological philosophy, ethics, law, psychology, science and economics that an ecological worldview advances and I share examples of creatives pioneering this path.” Cathy Fitzgerald‘s online learning offers a means to rapidly bring ecological literacy to the creative sector. … Continue reading “Haumea Online 7-week Essential Ecoliteracy for Creatives & Art Professionals” “The key to a sense of connection is spending time in natural places. These are intimate acts of slow and patient observation.” In her personal, revelatory essay for a new book from artist Paul Harfleet, Nadine Andrews explores ideas of belonging and connection through reflections on birds’ migration, human ambivalence and serendipitous encounters with nature. … Continue reading “The Long Return: an Essay on Belonging” “You know, Tiny, it was sentiments like that that caused all the problems in the first place.” In her climate thriller, Brit Griffin‘s future dystopia is a crucible for our moral choices today: how to find our way to be a better species in a world that’s already changed is a path of the imagination. … Continue reading “The Wintermen III – At the End of the World” “For the first time in the history of the world, it was literally raining carbon…” In his thriller Skyseed, writer and scientist Bill McGuire explores what might happen if we start geoengineering our climate to ‘fix’ global heating, and everything goes pear-shaped. A cautionary tale from a researcher steeped in the natural history of disasters. … Continue reading “Skyseed – Hacking the Earth might be the last thing we ever do…”
Mad Maggie and the Wisdom of the Ancients
“What Man Has Wrought”
1.8
AHIMSA
Sustainable Stand Up – Tackling Climate Change with Humour
Standing Tall, 2022
Mapping Vulnerability – Finding a Visual Voice
Art of Shading the Sun
Art at Net Zero Festival London
Changeling
Trinity
The Puma Years: A Memoir
Melt & The Hispering
Pole to Pole
Carbon Choices
The Wizard of O2
Living with Trees
Fifty Words for Snow
Imminent: a Zine on Emergency and Connectedness
Haumea Online 7-week Essential Ecoliteracy for Creatives & Art Professionals
The Long Return: an Essay on Belonging
The Wintermen III – At the End of the World
Skyseed – Hacking the Earth might be the last thing we ever do…