Responding to Climate Change Through Art and Design ECU Library Exhibition APRIL 2023 This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition "Responding to Climate Change Through Art and Design," held at the ECU Library, Vancouver, BC, from April 1-30, 2023. Published by the ECU Library, Vancouver, BC. Curated by Ana Diab, Michael Pollard, Kristy Waller, Hillary Webb. All photographs were supplied by the owners of the works of art, who hold the copyright thereto, and are reproduced with permission. ©2023 ECU Library No images in this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holders. INTRODUCTION Responding to Climate Change Through Art and Design includes work that envisions an eco-utopia, expresses concern about the environment or documents climate change through creative practice. Drawings, prints, paintings, sculptures, multimedia works and installations by members of the ECU community including students, alumni, staff and faculty, explore the impact of climate change and highlight the urgent need for action. The effects of climate change are already being felt locally and around the world, with wildfire smoke, flooding, loss of biodiversity and the displacement of human and non-human populations. Through this exhibition, we showcase a variety of ways artists and designers are responding to the climate crisis. We hope to amplify direct action and movements that address climate change, from hosting community events, engaging with non-human life, protesting, mapping, using sustainable materials, and more. The exhibition was curated by Ana Diab, Michael Pollard, Kristy Waller and Hillary Webb, and includes work by Amory Abbott, Maru Aponte, Emilia Belliveu-Thompson, Andrea Bollen, Giulia Borba, Gwenyth Chao, Ella Emsheimer, Lori Goldberg, Danya Gorodetsky, Erick Jantzen, Vjeko Sager, Jade Sawotin, Emma Somers and Bobbi Kozinuk, Ayako Takagi, and Rita Wong. Ultimately, we hope that this exhibition will inspire visitors to take action to address climate change, and to join the growing movement for a more sustainable and equitable future. pn AMORY ABBOTT Flood 1, 2022 Charcoal and white conte pencil on Stonehenge 250gsm 11” x 18” Flood 2, 2022 Charcoal and white conte pencil on Stonehenge 250gsm 9” x 15” Artist Statement and Bio Amory Abbott is a visual artist living in Vancouver, British Columbia where he teaches illustration at Emily Carr University of Art. His creative practice addresses social and ecological issues related to landscape, reflecting on the consequence and aftermath of extraction, agriculture, overpopulation, and other human ecological impacts, and what ancient cycles of growth and renewal have been broken, lost, or forgotten. As modern technologies pull our attention further away from our corporeal connection to the living world, so goes our primeval relationship to it. Our world is changing at a break-neck pace, and yet here are the mountains, and the forests, and the swelling rivers. MARU APONTE Vacia Talega Watercolour on paper 10' x 3' pn Bio Maru Aponte is a painter born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. She lived in Chicago for two years where she attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In search for a deeper understanding of the medium of painting, she restarted her studies in The Royal Academy of Antwerp where she finished her Bachelors in Painting with Distinction. She is currently pursuing her MFA at the Emily Carr in Vancouver, Canada. EMILIA BELLIVEAUTHOMPSON Joyful Protest - The D12 Red Line protest at COP21 24x36in acrylic pn Artist Statement In 2015 I was a youth delegate to the UN Climate Conference in Paris, COP21. Despite a ban on large public gatherings after a series of bombings shook the city, people mobilized en masse to march through the streets demanding that global warming be limited to 1.5 degrees celsius. Giant banners stretched through the crowds representing the red line that could not be crossed, the tipping point for runaway climate change. This painting depicts the vibrance of collective action and protest, critical forms of political engagement on climate change. Moments like these are where I have found the most optimism when confronting the climate crisis. By painting this memory, my creative practice offered a reminder that there is beauty, joy and hope in climate action. Bio Emilia Belliveau is a painter and mixed media visual artist, based on unceded Coast Salish territory. She has worked on climate and environmental justice issues since 2012, as a community organizer, researcher, campaigner with environmental non-profits, and policy analyst. She is interested in alternative economies, social movement strategy, and the role art plays in inspiring our radical imagination. pn ANDREA BOLLEN Climate Anxiety: A Retrospective + Constructed Landscape Artist book created with photography by Andream pn A Retrospective Inside the walls of “Climate Anxiety” are collaged photos taken by me in November 2019 at “Waste Land: A Climate Anxiety Haunted House” at 2566 Fifth St. in Victoria. A climate conversation/experimental art space in a predemolition house; an art experience organized and created by Victoria artists and students. Black glue reminiscent of oil spills holds these images together. Constructed Landscape Outside the walls: a montage of close up photos of aquatic environments along the coast of vancouver island on Pacheedaht First Nation territory. These images were reassembled and transformed into a 3D space using basic printer paper, re-photographed and printed on quality photo paper. The collage work includes these new images along with the original fragments to expand the environment, a work in progress since August 2022. A hint of futurism, a remix of earth inspired by 1980’s sci-fi. This futurism composition could be called Phaeacia, a theoretical epilogue to Boat of a Million Years, a book by Poul Anderson (1989). Bio I’ve worked as an occupational therapist since 2007 yet dreamt of rediscovering and exploring feelings through art. I began a therapeutic process of creating art for myself in 2019 and *update* I’m now a 3rd year photo major at ECU. A friend’s accidental auto correction of my name initiated my artist identity: Andream, to distinguish myself from my formal professional signature: Andrea Bollen. With all my endeavors, I prioritize ethical and sustainability practices. A lot of my art has been made with gathered materials that would otherwise be destined for the landfill or repurposed items that I collect from individuals in the community. I am interested in using art and photography as a therapeutic practice for others, using my experience to create arts based rehab programs. For now, I am continuing my personal journey in art school – looking inwards, expressing feelings through photography and mixed media, investigating relationships, community, environmental and social issues. https://andream.art/ pn GIULIA BORBA The air we breathe clay and linoleum prints pn Artist Statement Inspired by the air quality in Vancouver (September 10 and 11, 2022) during forest fires as well as a response to the fate of the amazon rainforest at play during Brazilian elections (October, 2022), these two prints are part of an exploration into the environment around us and our responses to the climate crisis. Part of the prints were made using clay blocks as an attempt to experiment with a material that could be easily reused, either for printmaking or for making other artifacts. The overlapping part inside of the lungs was made using linoleum. Bio Giulia Borba (BA in Visual Communication and Global & International Studies) is a Brazilian interdisciplinary designer situated in Vancouver, BC. Her current practice consists mainly of printmaking, embroidery, and editorial design. Giulia is a master of design candidate at Emily Carr University, currently focusing her research on the role of a creative practice has in understanding climate crisis-evoked emotions. pn GWENYTH CHAO After capitalist ruin, 2023 pn Bio Gwenyth Chao (b. Toronto/ Tkaronto, Canada) has degrees from the University of Guelph (BA) and Emily Carr University of Art + Design (MFA). Her research praxis asks: how can art be a portal to potential futures that offer alternate ways of knowing through material engagements? How would such reworlding destabilize systems of how knowledge is constructed, valued, and transmitted? Driven by an awareness of experimental possibility, Chao’s recent projects explore how material reconstitution can be informed by an ecological awareness and how transdisciplinary processes can generate new ways of knowing. Her research-creation praxis is funded by the Ontario, British Columbia, and Canada Arts Councils as well as the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council. Chao has exhibited work in galleries and museums across Canada including the Design TO Festival (Toronto, ON), the Richmond Art Gallery (Richmond, BC), the Centre culturel Georges-Vanier (Montreal, QC), and the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, ON). She was a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center, a contributing artist in the Leaning Out of Windows art & physics interdisciplinary project and an ArtistResearcher at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Chao’s next solo exhibitions will be at the Open Source Gallery (Brooklyn, NY) in fall 2023. ELLA EMSHEIMER ecoclasm / as moths to a flame 15 x 30 inches, oil on panel pn Artist Statement ecoclasm / as moths to a flame speaks to the impact of capitalism on planetary ecology through the use of political and cultural symbolism. It draws on the tradition of the octopus as a metaphor for neoliberal globalization, alluding to decades of anti-capitalist discourse. I wanted this piece to emit a warmth as alluring as the pursuit of profit. Through visual storytelling, ecoclasm / as moths to a flame engages with the impending consequences of corporate greed disguised as comfort. I view it as a commentary on both the selfdestructive nature of unsustainable systems and the global impact of current neoliberal policies. Bio Ella Emsheimer is a second-year Illustration student at ECU. Her practice involves the careful exploration of connection, introspection, and socio-political issues. Drawing from her photography and her experiences as a neurodivergent woman, Ella seeks to engage with both traditional and contemporary methods of representation. She favors symbolism as a tool for highlighting the relationships between ideas, working in a variety of media to create surreal compositions which hint at an underlying narrative. pn LORI GOLDBERG Fish Plasticity, 2022 Sewn single-use plastics, found glass, acrylic paint, coated in resin 18 x 7 x ½” pn Artist Statement In my series, Fish Plasticity, I focused on working hands-on with my would-be trash. I construct each fish by sewing cut pieces of singleuse plastic packaging together, adhering various broken glass painted with specialized reflective acrylic paint, then sealing in resin. The transparency qualities of these fish mobiles hang in a window, casting colourful reflections and shadows that evoke the beauty and fragility of marine life. Made from materials that will remain on our planet for hundreds of years, these pieces offer a meaningful aesthetic intervention -instead of going to the landfill, they will hang in homes or museums to remind us that what we discard does not disappear. I aim to inspire a more profound sense of environmental awareness and encourage positive change in the face of the climate crisis. Bio Lori Goldberg has been painting since the 1980s, consistently focusing on the juxtaposition and tensions between material objects and the environment. Goldberg's multimedia work has been exhibited across Canada and Europe. She has received several major commissions and awards, including a Canada Council Grant, two Tony Onley Artists' Project scholarships, Vermont Artists Award. Goldberg has always sought intersections with broader communities, developing collaborative and mutually instructive inquiries about how art can impact positive environmental changes. She served three years as the Provincial Representative of C.A.R./F.A.C, a Canada-wide advocacy and education NPO. Over the last two decades, Goldberg has taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. pn DANYA GORODETSKY Seasons of Change 18"x24" pn Artist Statement My piece is called “Seasons of Change” and is about how climate catastrophe has changed each season. It reflects on the different struggles that the environment faces, and brings to attention how these environmental issues tie into issues of our health, body and mind. Environment is indivisible from our bodies, and thus its catastrophes are our own. ERICK JANTZEN The Here and the Now, 2022 Copper etching. Handmade inks on handmade paper 20” x 15” pn Artist Statement This print depicts a bird’s-eye view of the Chilliwack region of the Fraser River. The area now used for agriculture is at risk of extreme flooding as climate change intensifies. The floods in this region in 2021 are an indication of things to come. This etching is created using inks and paper from recycled and sustainable sources. With the harvesting of local and sustainable materials, my creation process is grounded in the local ecology and what it can sustain. This resists globalized supply chains, which obscure our reliance on destructive, extractive practices. Bio Erick Jantzen is a printmaker and visual artist, making work on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish, in Vancouver. His art and writing have been published in both scientific and art spheres, including at the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference and in Canadian Art Magazine. He was the recipient of the 2021 Audain Travel Award, allowing him to undertake a papermaking residency at Atelier Retailles in Montréal. He earned a BSc in Biology from University of Victoria in 2016 and was awarded the Jubilee Medal of Science. He also completed a BFA in Visual Arts at Emily Carr University in 2022. VJEKO SAGER Carbon Redemption carbon on Stonehenge paper 30” x 22” 2021 pn Artist Statement The act of drawing demands attention and presence, as every mark brings us closer to the source. In the process, carbon dust falls on paper, leaving marks and traces followed by hand gestures. Like a chess player, the artist anticipates to capture the idea, suspended in between mind and paper, contemplating all possible and impossible moves. Time is measured by the amount of dust which spreads darkness over the whiteness. The rules are forgotten…as carbon gently touches surface, like a hand of a curious child. The mind tries to engage, but instinct takes over, allowing an interplay of opposite forces. Drawing attempts to redeem carbon, this element of life and its greatest threat… turning carbon back into idea. Bio Vjeko Sager is an artist, educator and curator, awarded, exhibited and represented in public and private collections in Canada, Japan, Hungary, Italy, USA and former Yugoslavia. He received a Master’s Degree in Applied Arts from the University of Arts in Belgrade and was appointed Associate Professor in Painting Techniques at the Faculty of Applied Arts & Design in Belgrade. Vjeko participated at numerous art events in Europe and in 1994 he moved to Vancouver. His works are exhibited at more than 40 international and local exhibitions and represented in public collections, including the Slide Registry at the Drawing Center in New York. He curated the exhibition "Art in Exile" for Artropolis 2003 (visited by 10.000 people) and lectured at the UBC Grand Rounds, SFU Philosopher's Cafe and participated at many local art events. Vjeko facilitates a Drawing Room, a drawing club which cultivates and promotes drawing culture at the Emily Carr University. He is recipient of the Ian Wallace Award for Teaching Excellence in 2020 and the Chick Rice Award for Teaching Excellence in 2021. https://vjekosager.com/ pn JADE SAWOTIN Last Works, 2022 Mixed media: Recycled materials, paper, plastic, natural materials, photographs, acrylic and gesso 36” x 24” 39” x 30.5” pn Artist Statement Jade Sawotin’s mixed media works explore material and sustainable practices. By combining recycled materials such as paper and waste in her paper-making processes, with her found natural materials such as leaves and seaweed, her mixed media works play with how materials can be combined and abstracted. In using natural materials, she approaches her material collection process with a leave-no-trace footprint in mind and is interested in how materials can be related to environmental issues in both the local and global context. Jade enjoys how her final work reacts to materiality, through her combination of different mediums like photography and painting. Bio Working mainly in painting and photography, Jade Sawotin also works with mixed media, sound, and film. From Calgary Alberta, she is currently living and studying in Vancouver at Emily Carr University to receive her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. Through her studies at Emily Carr, she has expanded her interests and her art concerning the environment through both her photographic, painting and mixed media works. She has become interested in how her relationship with the environment exists more through connection rather than separation expanded through her Environmental, Animal Ethics, and Making Art with Trees courses, which have greatly influenced her art practice. 12 EMMA SOMERS AND BOBBI KOZINUK Silent Growing plants by Emma Somers; grow lights by Bobbi Kozinuk Materials: dirt, seeds, water, scavenged plastic containers; LED strips and lights, controllers and sensors, power supplies and scavenged materials. pn Emma: Colonialism and capitalism are not innate to human existence. They are merely our current predicament. Through my work with plants, I seek to disrupt these conditions and offer a new way forward. A way which teaches us about interdependence and the reciprocal joy of caring. In the world of plants, there is no place for perfection – only experimentation and observation. Plants are both delicate and tenacious. They teach us about pace and productivity. They remind us that growth cannot be rushed, and that we must plant for a future beyond us. They teach us that our failures still provide us with a richness of loss, decay and compost. I believe that by learning from plants, we can find new ways of living and being that are beautiful, sustainable, equitable, and just. Bobbi: Through my work with used and recycled electronics I seek to disrupt the ever-faster cycle of technological growth – buy new tech, use briefly, throw out and repeat. Re use slows this directly as well as in the meditative practice of salvaging electronic components. Technology is both complex and simple. It can be used for good, it’s use is not inherently good. As an artist, I translate/connect between techno babble and arts theory. My LED grow lights connect my techno side with the physical living world. AYAKO TAKAGI The Climate Change We Experience cotton, madder (natural dye), embroidery thread, craft paper (for story cards) pn Artist Statement Climate change affects everyone. To explore this serious topic, I held a series of storytelling workshops called "stitching and talking." Participants created a global hazard map, compiling stories surrounding climate change from our community and expressing them through embroidery on recycled textile coloured with red madder (a natural dye). The stories expressed in embroidery were also written on cards to facilitate sharing after the workshops. These cards created a shared experience- one I invite you to join now.The map in front of you contains the participants’ climate change stories. Please take a moment to read the cards and reflect. Bio Ayako Takagi is working as an Industrial Designer in a biomaterials lab at UBC (the BioProduct Institute) where she explores applications for new bio-based materials in support of sustainable development. As part of her studies as a Masters of Interdisciplinary Design student at Emily Carr, she tries to discover how art and traditional craft techniques can contribute to scientific research while retaining the value of handicraft and heritage. Ayako believes that this interdisciplinary study can contribute to make a positive impact on how we address climate change. Ayako’s primary focus is material exploration. However, her interest in exploring the topic of climate change with the local community also led her to conduct several storytelling workshops which resulted in the piece exhibited here. pn RITA WONG pn Publisher's Description Current, Climate is an introduction to the environmental and socialjustice poetry of Rita Wong. Selections from her poetic oeuvre show how Wong has responded to local and global inequities with outrage, linguistic inventiveness, and sometimes humour. Wong’s poetry explores the meeting places of life, language, and land— from downtown Vancouver to the headwaters of the Columbia River. Her poems are deeply attentive to places and their names, and especially to the imposition of foreign words on the unceded Indigenous lands of what is otherwise known as British Columbia. Exhorting readers to recognize their responsibilities to the planet and to their communities, Wong’s watershed poetics encompass anger, grief, wit, and hope. Nicholas Bradley’s introduction situates Wong’s poetry in its literary and cultural contexts, focusing on the role of the author in a time of crisis. In Wong’s case, poetry and political activism are intertwined— and profoundly connected to the land and water that sustain us. The volume concludes with an afterword by Rita Wong that calls for collective action to address the climate crisis and systemic inequities with an “economy of care and solidarity. ” ECU Library 2023