Climate change catharsis – how Aussies really feel about the state of Earth
The topic of climate change can feel like an overwhelming issue to address or even discuss, but research by Fulbright Scholar Professor Lynn Cazabon reveals how Australians really feel about climate events, through her accessible visual arts project Emotional Climate.
Hailing from the University of Maryland in Baltimore County, USA, Prof Cazabon is undertaking research at CQUniversity through a Fulbright Scholarship, engaging with everyday Aussies from regional and metro areas of Queensland.
Through personal interviews and an anonymous survey, she is carefully unpacking the emotional response to climate events.
The final artwork comprised of the statements gleaned from these conversations will be on public display between May 20 – 24, with the visual works disseminated in a variety of forms including signage across CQUniversity’s campus footprint and other public sites within the communities in which the University has a presence, along with CQU’s social media channels.
In parallel with these virtual displays, the works will also feature at Gallery 31 at the CQU Mackay City Campus on May 22, which will include projected and screen displays, and an interactive digital interface created in collaboration with CQUniversity academics Dr Ashley Holmes and Dr Stephen Pace, and an audio component created with CQUniversity students and led by Associate Lecturer Patty Preece.
Prof Cazabon said that in addressing the climate crisis, all disciplines and schools of thought had a role to play, and that the arts and humanities was especially important as they engaged the human element through communication and helping people talk to each other.
“The phrase ‘climate change’ alone can be a closed door for many people, and so with my particular focus on the emotional impacts of climate change and lived experience, I want for this project to open conversations between people,” Prof Cazabon said.
“The arts does this through forming connection, and also serves as a way to help people cope with the associated feelings that result from destructive climate events; the solastalgia – or ecological grief that occurs due to the destruction of landscape and loss of country is very real, and we’re not necessarily talking about these changes within us, so just having the conversation has been cathartic for a lot of people.”
Prof Cazabon explained that presenting feelings through a textual format provided the audience with an opportunity to be immersed in the subject matter from a new perspective.
“A similar previous project of mine called Losing Winter led me to think carefully as people were relaying their memories to me; as they described the weather and the landscape I saw it visually in my own imagination, and so I decided early on with this project that I didn’t want to use images,” Prof Cazabon explained.
“There’s something interesting about presenting people with text and allowing the viewer to project themselves into that.
“It’s a non-conventional and narrow channel that I’m offering visually that will enable the viewer to engage and feel empathy and connection to whoever is speaking – that’s the aim.”
WHERE YOU CAN SEE EMOTIONAL CLIMATE:
Viewable on LCD screens on CQUniversity campuses in Brisbane, Bundaberg, Emerald, Gladstone, Mackay City, Mackay Ooralea, Melbourne, Rockhampton, Sydney and Townsville, on Wednesday, May 22, 11am – 1pm.
Additional screens on the CQU Brisbane and Mackay campuses will feature the project, May 20 – 24.
Exhibition at Gallery 31 on the Mackay City Campus, May 20 – 24, with a reception on Wednesday, May 22, 6 – 8pm.
Selected quotes as posts via CQUniversity’s social media channels, May 20 – 24.
On screens at the Gladstone Airport, from May 20 onwards.
On a screen in the Webb building at Queensland College of Art and Design / Griffith University in Brisbane, May 20 – 24.
Crafted Responses, at the Long Gallery at Benevolent Living Aged Care, Rockhampton, May 18 – June 16. A reception will be held on Saturday, May 18, 10am – 12pm.
(Featuring creative responses by students at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School and residents from Benevolent Living Aged Care in collaboration with teacher Tammy Dorsett and Arts Director Eleanor Thompson respectively)
