Art, Climate Action and Community: A Funded Research project

Over the summer I had the opportunity to collaborate in a funded project supported by the Sustainability and Resilience Institute (S&RI) at the University of Southampton. The project formed part of the Small Worlds show at The Winchester Gallery adding an extra dimension to an exhibition that already encompassed 400 globes made by schools in Hampshire as well as artists from the community too. It was a real visual treat with the display of the globes and the buzz of conversation around our local green spaces and how this community of Winchester chooses to use them. It was a show that encompassed powerful messages around climate change, sustainability and the joy of our local green spaces.

As a visual artist, I’ve always been interested in how art can open up conversations that data alone cannot. For this project, I collaborated with Zihao Liu (MA Global Media Management) from China to create an interactive installation in the gallery which was designed to collect public response and reflections on climate issues - turning the gallery itself into a space for research and dialogue.

We created a large scale map painted directly onto the wall and invited visitors to respond to three climate related questions using coloured chalk markers as well as identifying their favourite green spaces in the city. Over the course of the summer more than 1,800 visitors came to Small Worlds and many of these added their voices, ideas and concerns in colour acrosss the wall. The resulting work became both a visual artwork and a living dataset - a map not just of place, but of community thought and emotion.

We have complete a report based on the findings which also preserves some of the wonderful images which describe peoples thoughts and ideas on this subject. The report is being shared with local groups working on climate action and the future of green spaces here in Winchester. It has been an inspiring process that has depeened my belief that art can act as a bridge between research, creativity and public engagement.

I’m hugely grateful to S&RI for supporting this project, to Kate Maple at The Winchester Gallery for instigating and supporting it, and to everyone who picked up a chalk pen and added their voice to the wall.

@artandresearch @climatechange @urbangreening @artcommunity