Abstract
Climate change has gained traction in artists' works and exhibitions. This research aims at gaining a better understanding of visual artists who create climate-related art and are/were located in the central art market countries of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Germany—countries with considerable contributions to climate change and responsibility for action. Responding to calls for the further involvement of the humanities and sociology of the arts to address socio-ecological themes, this article addresses the question: How do artists' imaginations of climate change relate to aspects of climate (in)justice? To answer this question, thirty interviews were conducted with artists who addressed climate change in their works. This study finds that the artists are, among others, driven by a desire to reduce distances (spatially, temporally, human-nature) and/or to engage with causes and impacts nearby. Many artists are concerned with climate (in)justice in various ways: with not only vulnerable, remote regions, future generations, and other species, but also nearby areas in the present. This study also shows that artists face ethical questions when engaging in climate topics. The research applies and reveals insights from the environmental humanities, emphasizing the connectedness of environmental challenges to social, cultural, and human aspects. The research is also situated within the sociology of the arts, the study of aesthetic practices in times of global inequalities, but also of hope, possibilities, and learning. Further, this research adds to the increasing awareness of climate change as a domestic issue.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, climate change has gained traction in artists' works and exhibitions. 1 Scholars have discussed numerous potential roles of the arts, from raising awareness to imagining futures. 2 However, further research is needed to investigate the artist's perspective. Following other scholars, 3 this research does not aim at applying a normative approach to prescribing any best-practice approach (in terms of the type of art). Instead, it strives for an in-depth understanding of artists creating climate-related art, based on their perspectives. The guiding question is: How do artists' imaginations of climate change relate to aspects of climate (in)justice? To answer this question, thirty interviews were conducted with artists working on the topic of climate change. In this set of interviews, the focus is on artists having been born or residing in “central” art markets. The Materials and Methods section provides further details.
This research is situated within the environmental humanities, which refer to “a range of multifaceted scholarly approaches that understand environmental challenges as inextricable from social, cultural and human factors,” 4 and climate sociology, a “new subfield […] that emerged around 2018 in the USA and involved a growing understanding of climate change as a domestic challenge.” 5 Both these fields deal with questions of social and environmental injustice. This study is a response to various urgent calls for the further involvement of the humanities and sociology of the arts to address climate change.
Anthropocene framings and climate ethics
The term “Anthropocene,” the human epoch, became widely known in the 2000s through chemist Paul Crutzen and biologist Eugene Stoermer. It denotes a time in which human activity has major, global impacts on earth's systems, which will be discernible in the geological record even in millions of years. 6 However, several scholars have criticized the term because it disguises responsibilities for and vulnerabilities to environmental problems by suggesting that humankind, in general, is causing climate change.
Instead, as Swedish ecology scholar Andreas Malm argues, capitalistic systems and fossil capital are the roots of climate change. 7 , 8 Indigenous scholar Zoe Todd also underlines that the framings of the Anthropocene lack consideration of the structural violences that have caused the Anthropocene in the first place, such as patriarchy and white supremacy. Todd discusses “An orientation towards [Papaschase Cree scholar Dwayne] Donald's philosophical framework,” which can address the limitations of the current Anthropocene framings. 9 This framework includes ethical relationality, which Donald defines as an understanding of “how our different histories and experiences position us in relation to each other,” engrained in relationships, reciprocity, and responsibility. 10
Climate change is an ethical challenge for numerous reasons, as philosopher Stephen M. Gardiner insightfully illuminates. First, climate change is a “global storm” because any location that emits greenhouse gas emissions impacts the global climate. This global storm is paired with “institutional inadequacy” of the current institutions and the deficiency of a global governance system to address the problems effectively. 11 Although climate change impacts are coming closer to the “Global North,” 12 there exist major “global inequalities” 13 and “skewed vulnerabilities” 14 : Even though richer countries are responsible for much of the historic emissions, they may be less affected by negative climate impacts or able to protect themselves (at least for the time being). Poor nations are the most vulnerable to negative climate impacts. 15
The second reason climate change is an ethical challenge is that it is an “intergenerational storm”: the causes and effects, those in power and those affected, are spread across time. 16 It is a “slow violence,” “a violence of delayed destruction that is dispersed across time and space.” 17 Such large temporal or spatial scales, but also the microscopic size (e.g., microplastic pollution) are difficult to relate to, especially when thinking in human scales, as is prevalent in “Western cosmologies.” 18 At the same time, climate change, once considered “a catastrophe without event” in some parts of the world, is no longer that. It has moved into the present, as, for instance, explained by media ecologist Birgit Schneider. 19
Third, climate change is an “ecological storm” because it impacts animals, plants, and ecosystems. 20 Therefore, the climate and biodiversity crises are closely interwoven. Multispecies justice—a more-than-human ecology—is part of climate justice. 21 The relationship between humans, nature, and non-humans has been the subject of various publications in the environmental humanities. Scholars argue for an “entanglement” of humans with species and nature, discussing “companion species” (see Donna Haraway, 22 Anna Tsing 23 ), the multispecies “mesh” (see Timothy Morton 24 ), and “naturecultures” (see Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway), which are “ontologies of living with, as and through environments, where nature cannot be separated from culture.” 25
The danger of separating nature from culture, and human domination over nature is often discussed in the humanities literature. However, it is important to note that the nature-culture dualism is not a universal concept. 26 Although often used in Western contexts, references to this dichotomy may not be common in other locations. This illustrates the importance of considering other settings and ways of knowing. 27
These previous sections showed that, for at least three reasons, climate change involves dispersions of causes and effects across the globe, time, and species, making it an ethical issue that inflicts injustice upon vulnerable regions, future generations, and other species. 28
Art and its relation to climate ethics and (in)justice
Artists 29 can offer imaginative framings of climate change, giving a tangible form to the imagination of different futures and worlds. 30 Although there are numerous understandings of the term imagination, it can be seen as a creative faculty, a “sensitivity to the possible shapes of one's environment” instead of mere fantasy. 31 Imagination has the power to reveal what is, making the absent present, but also to connote actuality into possibility, and envision how we might be. Imagination can become consolidated in images and create the conditions for action.
In terms of the aforementioned “global storm” of climate change, the global inequalities of climate impacts, and vulnerable regions, artists are said to render distant environmental phenomena, such as melting ice sheets, through their art proximate. 32 However, artists may face ethical questions, for instance in terms of the environmental footprint of their long-distance travel. Moreover, ethical issues arise when imaginations lack attention to power relations, 33 people, and politics. 34 The question is posed as to how artists can stimulate “a politics of environmental justice viewed from the perspective of those who have the least access to resources,” 35 and who are less (re)presented. 36
For example, artists may engage in field research and mutual exchange “with local communities and indigenous cultures.” 37 A significant development in recent years is that the “geographic mapping of climate change” is changing from distant suffering to nearby impacts. 38 The question arises: Are the interviewed artists talking about the representation of certain (which?) climate-impacted areas, and if so, why?
Regarding the “intergenerational storm” of climate change, it can be said that climate change is a topic that is often discussed with regard to the futures that will be experienced, and artists are contributing their imaginations. 39 Imaginations of catastrophic futures were particularly prominent in earlier climate-related works aimed at raising awareness 40 when knowledge was still lacking. There has been much opposition toward such apocalyptic, dooms-laden imaginations in the general communication of climate change and artistic creations.
They can create fear, helplessness, 41 powerlessness, and distance, and they can foreclose alternatives and different futures. 42 , 43 Some argue that art needs to re-imagine futures that are worth imagining. 44 Numerous scholars have highlighted the potential of inspirational and hopeful narratives in art. Galafassi and colleagues, for instance, argue for “narratives of hope,” 45 and Davis and Turpin discuss that “the environmental crisis beckons art practice to re-imagine futures beyond the cynical recklessness of the myopic capitalist horizon.” 46
Are the interviewed artists talking about the imagination of (negative/positive) futures, and if so, why? Next to imaginations of futures, artists can document and criticize current practices. Some art initiatives such as ArtCOP21 are said to influence the policies of cultural institutions. 47
Concerning the “ecological storm” and multispecies justice, artworks can emphasize aspects such as care, sympathy, and empathy for human-nature and interspecies relationships. Artistic practices may “address the problem of negative framing and popular alienation by (re)instating an imaginary of curiosity, care and concern.” 48 They can play an important role in addressing “non-human lives and ecosystems” 49 and forge entanglements. 50 Are the interviewed artists talking about the representation of human-nature or interspecies connections, and if so, why?
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Qualitative interviewing allows accessing a person's view regarding subjects and enquiring about how and why something happens. Therefore, this method aligns with the purpose of this study to explore artists' reflections on their creative practices. Artists were selected based on the following criteria. First, they create visual artworks—from two-dimensional representations to installations and public interventions 51 —around climate change, either as defined by the artists themselves 52 and/or by art critics and journalists. Second, the artists are from or are/were residing in the central art market countries 53 of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. 54
These central art market countries are also among those with a considerable contribution (and responsibility for action with regard) to climate change. There were also pragmatic reasons (German and English being the researcher's first and second languages) to focus on these countries. Some of the artists have lived in multiple countries, for example the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and Germany, and therefore in both the “Global North” and the “Global South.”
Third, the sample should cover a broad spectrum of artist goals to avoid including a certain type, such as activist art only. Fourth, artists with different news media coverage and in different career phases were chosen to include both emerging and well-known artists.
Thirty interviews were conducted online between March 2021 and May 2022 and lasted ∼1 hour. 55 Thirty interviews were the limit of the sample size due to sufficient insights to answer the research question and for pragmatic data collection reasons. It is important to mention that the interviewed artists are a discrete set and do not represent all artists working on climate-related topics. The findings cannot be generalized because of the sample size (N = 30) and qualitative nature of the research.
It is also crucial to stress that although art may have intended (and unintended) effects on people and sites, this research does not evaluate or try to single those out. Instead, this article focuses on artists' reflections on their creative practices and their imaginations of climate change topics, which may be part of their desired impact and not the same as their impact, for instance, according to audiences.
Artists were asked questions such as, “Is there something and if so, what do you want to achieve with your art?,” “With your artworks, who are you aiming to reach?,” “Why and when did you start to engage in topics of climate change?” These questions were purposefully kept open (i.e., not directly tied to a certain goal or aspect of climate injustice) for artists to answer in whichever direction they desired. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. More specifically, thematic analysis allowed looking for patterns in the data. 56
RESULTS
Examples of the types of visual artworks that the interviewed artists created and talked about are paintings, photography, sculpture, video, public intervention, some with and others without participatory, activist, or interactive elements. 57 In the following sections, I present the results of recurring themes in the interviews that relate to the earlier mentioned aspects of climate (in)justice. These are illustrated by selected quotes from the interviews.
Imagining human-nature entanglements
Many of the interviewed artists talked about how they wanted their art to connect people with the natural environment. For example, artists represent nature in paintings, photographs, or installations to evoke emotions, such as “empathy” for animals, plants, and people, an admiration for the beauty of “this planet and this life,” “care,” and “love” for natural places. Consider this artist's statement: “I really wanted that people could have an emotional response because they could experience empathy with these little creatures.”
Artists are interested in forging connections, or entanglements, such as between “culture and nature,” people and the planet, climate change and other issues, the “interrelated web of life,” different parts of the world, and “between everything.” They imagine such connections because they are aware that they are not isolated from each other, and they want to contribute to a better understanding of such connections. Some artists stressed that there is much to learn from nature, for instance, regarding the interconnectedness of matters and nature's circular logic.
Some artists move beyond representation into transforming an ecosystem through artistic interventions, for example artworks that create habitat spaces or restore ecosystems. They do not necessarily fix larger systems; they may be small-scale or symbolic, and some pragmatic projects criticize practices such as carbon offsetting.
Representing climate impacts: far and near
Second, another recurring imagination of artists working on climate change is to represent climate impacts on vulnerable regions and people because artists wish to reduce the distance to (remote) impacts and offer support. Multiple interviewed artists reflected on environmental injustice, marginalization, power relations in politics, and between countries; the discrepancy between those who cause the problems and those who suffer most; the value of indigenous perspectives and collaborations; the need for political changes; and the roots of current crises in colonialism and capitalism. Artists who have a background, or close mutual exchange, in the culture that they represent in their artwork, reflected extensively on these topics. In their artworks, many artists show the impact on landscapes (the sublime or destruction), and some show portrayals of animals and people.
Nevertheless, the framing of artists from central art markets about other cultures can also be very different from the framing of local cultures, for instance, regarding the resilience of cultures. For example, the following quote illustrates an artist's attempt to take responsibility for and to support distant regions threatened by climate change: “We are mounting an expedition next year to the […] islands in the Pacific. […] The […] islands' average height above sea level is […] less than two meters. So, they're deeply threatened by climate change. Their whole culture might just disappear.”
However, the local culture may not see its disappearance, even if threatened by rising sea levels and facing injustice and loss. An example is the resilience of Moana peoples, who are migrating from islands endangered by climate change, while their cultures are sustained instead of disappearing. 58 Another artist asked herself ethical questions regarding representing other cultures: “Am I allowed to make art where indigenous people can make art themselves about themselves?”
Some artists focus their artistic imaginations on the causes and impacts that are nearby, via-à-vis their location in the United Kingdom (e.g., polluted rivers), the United States (e.g., consumption), and Germany (e.g., forest fires). The reasons include the earlier mentioned ethical questions, and moreover environmental considerations (e.g., avoiding emissions): “I get to see it and I get to do it, but [I will] still be part of the problem. So, […] I've been thinking like: How can I work more locally?” Another reason for artists to engage with impacts in the “Global North” relates to the phenomenon of climate change impacts coming closer to home, such as intensified heatwaves and flooding: “There will be more heavy storms, there will be more disasters and it won't just be in India or somewhere […] far from our reality. No, it is happening more and more here with us too.”
Imagining futures… and presents
Third, I interviewed multiple artists who created earlier climate-related works (in the late 1990s and early 2000s) depicting catastrophic futures, aimed at raising awareness. However, there are also more recent works among the discussed art projects that focus on apocalyptic topics. Artists who imagine disaster-struck futures often want to warn about the future, create urgency, and make people understand the gravity of the situation: “I decided to do this project to sort of bring attention to what I thought was a very alarming and dire scenario. Little did I know how much of a failure we'd face in the 17 years since then, since I finished it.”
Some of the interviewed artists created artworks showing possible resilient futures. The imagined positive futures are driven by the perceived changing role of the artist and the desire to offer hope and possibilities in times of negative narratives: “I think one of the big roles for artists now is to show what's possible […] like here's the problem, […] what do we do now? […] so, artists have this great role of imagining the future”.
Overall, engaging people with futures (warning about negative futures and/or showing positive futures) is driven by a desire to bring the future into the present, that is, to reduce the temporal distance and thereby generate changes.
Multiple artists also deal with issues firmly situated in the present. This could concern their desire to witness the destruction and demise of nature (“I am documenting what we're losing”) or criticizing humanity's narratives and practices as the causer of the situation we are already in. Other examples of artists becoming active in the here and now are their pragmatic artworks (mitigation, adaptation), and artists working on political changes through art movements such as ArtCOP21 or Culture Declares Emergency: “The tragedy of our history is that power is held by a very small privilege who willingly or at times ignorantly […] will let many, many, many, many other people suffer.”
Multiple artists stressed the power of various movements coming together to create political change:
“A lot of the work that I continue to do really is about sort of building these networks […] where the art acts as a connector. It's not necessarily an endpoint; it's a connector between communities who are facing change […], and those […] making decisions around that: researchers and policymakers.”
DISCUSSION
The present research provides relevant insights into the artist's perspective and adds to efforts in the environmental humanities and sociology of the arts to view environmental challenges not merely as environmental but also as social, cultural, and human, 59 and as major challenges that are no longer distant but also domestic. 60 Based on the interviewed artists' talking about their artistic imaginations of climate change, it becomes clear that many artists addressing climate change, directly or more subtly, are concerned with aspects of climate (in)justice in various ways.
First, many artists are concerned with the effects on animals, plants, and ecosystems—what has been termed the “ecological storm,” and with the human-nature relation. 61 For example, artists who represent human-nature connections or who want to improve an ecosystem. Such imaginations are driven by the conviction of the importance of such connections and a perceived lack of a meaningful human-nature relation, adding to previous research on entanglements. 62 Given the Western understanding of the need to overcome the nature-culture dichotomy, it is not surprising that numerous artists who work in a Western context center their art on this theme.
Second, many artists also concern themselves with possible futures and the injustice inflicted on future generations or other species—the “intergenerational storm.” Engagement with futures (warning about negative futures, showing positive futures) is driven by a desire to bring the future into the present to reduce the temporal distance. Many artists' desire to offer positivity and hope is related to a perceived dominant negative narrative, a narrative described in previous publications. 63
Artists also concern themselves with issues situated in the present, documenting and criticizing current practices, and some artists work as activists and organize political movements. Many artists want to achieve larger changes in society through their art, public speeches and collaborations and fight institutional inadequacies. 64
Third, numerous artists are concerned with the “global storm” of climate change. Some focus on climate impacts inflicted on vulnerable regions in the “Global South,” which is driven by a desire to reduce the geographical distance between the “Global North” to impacts in the “Global South,” as has been found in previous research of artwork analyses, 65 and further to acknowledge the responsibility of the North, and to support regions threatened by climate change. This study also shows that artists themselves mentioned ethical challenges in engaging with climate topics, for instance, in relation to their environmental footprint or the representation of indigenous people. In addition, the way artists from central art markets engage with other cultures is likely to differ from the framing of issues by the local community, for example, in terms of the resilience of cultures.
As discussed in the literature review, artists who imagine climate change in remote (vis-à-vis their) cultures need, among others, a deep understanding of the different histories, power imbalances, and mutual exchanges between the artist and the local community and culture. Multiple artists reflected on topics such as power relations, marginalization, the value of indigenous perspectives and collaborations, the need for political change, and the roots of crises. More awareness of and exchange about such topics—in the art world and beyond—could contribute to a better understanding of the causes of crises and necessary systemic changes.
Moreover noteworthy is that there appears to be a development also toward representing and fixing impacts encountered in the North, which is, amongst others, driven by a desire to show the impacts nearby (in the “Global North,” as recently suggested 66 ). The “geographic mapping of climate change” seems to be changing for some artists, who use a new narrative that is also applied in some media in recent years: “Climate change has arrived” here and now in the “Global North.” 67 It has become a perceived domestic challenge. This does not imply that artistic imaginations now need to focus only on local spaces; rather, any imagination requires an understanding of the underlying power relations. 68
Therefore, on the one hand, artists are aiming at reducing the dispersion of climate causes and effects, the distance across the globe, time, and across species, trying to fight the injustice inflicted on vulnerable regions, future generations, and other species. On the other hand, it is not only about reducing distances anymore. Some artists' statements underline that climate change is no longer merely a remote issue (spatially or temporally). It is no longer “a catastrophe without event,” as it was seen some years ago (in certain areas). 69
In addition, it needs to be stressed that artists are not only or primarily concerned with climate change and (in)justice. Artists are also certainly concerned with aspects that are tightly connected to the arts: the (aesthetic) experience provided by the artwork. It is particularly important to mention this frequently voiced aspect, as an increasing interest in art's agency (in research and practice) has triggered various expectations, such as situating art as a “magic bullet” for social-ecological change. 70 The present research underlines that a discussion of art in relation to climate change needs to also emphasize the importance of the (aesthetic) experience related to the artwork.
CONCLUSION
This research asked: How do artists' imaginations of climate change relate to aspects of climate (in)justice? Based on artists' talking about their art, it becomes clear that many artists, directly or more subtly, are concerned with climate (in)justice in numerous ways: with vulnerable, remote regions, future generations, and other species, but also nearby areas in the present. This research also underlines the importance of the (aesthetic) experience of art according to artists.
This research applies and reveals insights from the environmental humanities. It shows that environmental challenges are tightly connected to social, cultural, and human aspects by focusing on the role of artists in addressing climate change, and by showing that artists connect climate change to various socio-ecological aspects. It also underlines the relevance of the field of sociology of the arts as a study of aesthetic practices in times of loss and global inequalities. 71
Moreover, it can include the analysis of aesthetic practices in processes of hope, possibilities, and learning, for example, from nature and indigenous people. Further, the present study adds to the increasing awareness of climate change as a domestic issue and the need to consider the roots of socio-ecological crises. These insights may be of interest to artists, cultural institutions, policymakers, and researchers.
This research, as any research, has limitations and offers suggestions for future research. First, part of this study's selection criteria focused on artists from or residing in central art markets—at the same time regions with high impact and responsibility for climate change. Future research could interview artists in other regions to add to the present insights.
Second, this research focuses on artists' reflections on their creative practices, part of which relate to their desired impact. Future research could investigate audiences' perceptions of this art. Third, other topics that the artists reflected on deserve further in-depth analyses, for example their perspective on aesthetics, from sublime to research to “slow aesthetics” and others, and their collaborative practices.
In short, artists have both great potential and responsibility for navigating the complex terrain of imagining the global, intergenerational, and ecological storms of climate change, addressing various aspects of climate (in)justice. Beyond acting as mere communicators with predefined roles, artists can show, criticize, and question what is, and they can imagine how we might be, from the far away to the here and now.
Footnotes
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank all artists for their time and openness in sharing their perspectives, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
AUTHOR'S CONTRIBUTIONS
U.H.: Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing.
ETHICS STATEMENT
This study involved human subjects. The interviewees (artists) were provided with a written Informed Consent Form. Only if the interviewees agreed to participate in the research by signing the form, they were interviewed. Moreover, the form contained options about which they could indicate their preferences, such as: being identified in a publication in which the research findings might be shared (yes/no), having their quotes used in a publication in which the research findings might be shared (yes/no), and having their interview audio recorded (yes/no).
DATA ACCESS STATEMENT
The data supporting the research are currently not openly available.
AUTHOR DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING INFORMATION
This work was written as part of a PhD project that received funding from the PhD in the Humanities programme of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Project number: PGW.19.010/8366.