Tagged: Arts

Large yellow bird holds teddy bear on an air plane

An Ecological Case for Cuteness

Many environmentalists are suspicious of cute mascots. Evelyn Ramiel invites us to open our hearts to cute characters that create ecologies of care.

A wooden bookcase with jars of colorful plastic objects on the shelves

Art for Our Plastic Present

Natalie Wright reviews an exhibit on “Plastic Entanglements” at the Chazen Museum of Art which explores questions of our plastic, synthetic world.

Man with flashlight in a field of rotted pumpkins at night.

Plant Monsters Turn Normal Upside Down

Julia Dauer argues that the plant monsters from the Netflix series Stranger Things share roots with 18th-century colonial terror of botanical powers. Unruly vegetation from the Upside Down calls for a wholesale reevaluation of normal in the contemporary US.

A satellite image of the Mississippi River

Recording the Mississippi Soundscape: A Conversation with Monica Haller

Artist Monica Haller explores the Mississippi River as an Anthropocene site with intimate ties to her own family history. She records the underwater sounds of this historical waterway to trace connections between the river and legacies of slavery, philosophies of ownership, and environmental racism.

At the top a helicopter flies over a tank tunneling through the earth. Various armed persons and roosters are spaced above and below the tank.

Excavating Haitian Histories

Haitian political history, Taíno artifacts, colonial plantations, and even cholera bacteria leave their marks on the land in Kwynn Johnson’s 30-foot panoramic drawing of Cap Haitien.

Alan C. Braddock

The Art of Nature’s Nation: A Conversation with Alan C. Braddock

What can art history tell us about how artists imagine, interpret, and bear witness to environmental change? The new exhibition Nature’s Nation uses ecocritical art history to explore American environmental history and pose tough questions about what we need to do move forward.