What is happening to our planet? Increase in average temperature by a few degrees, melting glaciers, and the climate becomes more radical. And who cares? Small groups of people - activists, Europe, America?
African artist Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo creates heroic images of Africans living in the mountains of copper hell.
Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, The Hell of Copper (L’Enfer du Cuivre) Series: The Hell of Copper 1800x1200, Janvier-Novembre 2008, Accra, Ghana [Photography] At: https://prixpictet.com/portfolios/growth-shortlist/nyaba-leon-ouedraogo/the-hell-of-copper-lenfer-du-cuivre-3/ (Accessed 16.09.2022)
Or Chinese artist Yao Lu blends the past of Chinese painting and contemporary dirt through collages.
Fishing Boats Berthed by the Mount Yu (detail) 2008 Digital C-print Dimensions variable [Photography] At: h http://www.leapleapleap.com/2011/10/yao-lu-new-landscapes/ (Accessed 16.09.2022)
Artists have become a driving force, helpers of nature. They have an educational, activist, experimental, and research role in helping to speak about climate problems.
Someone chooses the way of presenting reality in a new light with an imperceptible emphasis on garbage, trash, smog and so on.
Nadav Kander, Yangtze: The Long River [Photography] At: https://www.lensculture.com/nadav-kander (Accessed 16.09.2022)
It turns out such a strange effect as if the viewer is involved and interested in identifying of depicted, and when the realisation comes, it is as if understanding of dirt pierces you.
My practice is about the process. Working with my hands, I say "start with yourself" - the solution to problems lies not only with politicians and activists, it depends on everyone. First, I think about what materials/products I use and for what. Secondly, I will reuse it, rethink, redesign, repurpose, repair, and refurbish it. Like the artist EVA JOSPIN, I don't produce new things, but use what is already there. I attract public attention due to the beauty of form and colour and create an atmosphere in which you can think about what is happening with nature and human production.
At the same time, an important component, in my opinion, is the theoretical activity of the artist.
Ravi Agarwal: In the Realm of Nature Shreya Ray | 10 May, 2016 [Photography] At: https://openthemagazine.com/art-culture/ravi-agarwal-in-the-realm-of-nature/ (Accessed 16.09.2022)
As opposed to the previous artist, who thinks that an artist should not be political or activist, he/she should just make art, I find Ravi Agarwal’s position is closer to mine. He goes to the locals in India and spends time with them, observing their way of life in order to figure out why they do what they do. Primitively littering the environment is the norm in all undeveloped societies. And people take it as the norm. In principle, it was already clear that if no one says that plastic is harmful to the earth, then it is simply impossible for a man to come to such a conclusion. The artist needs to understand the problem. Through artistic research to determine the cause and then talk about it through his art.
To work on or with elements of nature and ecology, some artists choose one medium and delve into it. This does not mean that the artist stands still or is limited by this medium. So for example Berndnaut Smilde would seem to make only indoor clouds.
But changing the exposure, including portraiture, creates new connotations and concepts. Extends the meaning of this work. In the same way, once I have chosen a technique and material that inspires me, I expand the places of use and improve the method itself.
But many artists work from project to project, so to speak. Seeing such a work, it is impossible to say with certainty who its author is, it is without specific handwriting.
Tue-Greenfort_FlashArt Public flower pollination (2006). Courtesy of Bob Goedewaagen. [Installation] At: https://flash---art.com/article/tue-greenfort/ (Accessed 23.09.2022)
Tattfoo Tan, S.O.S. Mobile Garden [Installation] At: http://www.tattfoo.com/sos/SOSMobileGarden.html (Accessed 23.09.2022)
SIMON STARLING, ‘ISLAND FOR WEEDS’ 2003 Soil, rhododendrons, water, plastic, metal, self regulating pressure system. 243.8 x 365.8 x 609.6 cm [Installation] At: https://www.themoderninstitute.com/artists/simon-starling/works/island-for-weeds-2003/391/ (Accessed 23.09.2022)
Allora & Calzadilla Foreign in a Domestic Sense 2017 Blackout, 2017 Electrical transformer core coil, ceramic insulators, steel, iron, oscillator, speaker, vocal performance. Image: © the artists, courtesy Lisson Gallery [Installation] At: https://artreview.com/ar-december-2017-review-allora-calzadilla/ (Accessed 23.09.2022)
Each of the works carries an individual message. But what will allow you to separate one work from another and understand its idea if the viewer is not in the subject? I think it is the nuances and history of the authors. It's like canvases on which four different artists painted with oil paints in the style of cubism. In this case, canvas and oil paints are similar to materials - finished objects. Cubism here can be translated into the theme of ecology. But my taste is more interesting to know the world through a special perception of another person. Let it be a repetition of itself, but if development is traced in the method, this gives that "other" abnormality in the presentation of things. And this abnormality provokes, knocks out of the routine. Also, when the artist has one, let's say, chosen method, it is easier for the viewer to navigate and he does not feel lost in the world of the artist's unlimited ideas.
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