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.
Many environmentalists are suspicious of cute mascots. Evelyn Ramiel invites us to open our hearts to cute characters that create ecologies of care.
In ClearCut – The Wages of Dominion, photographer John Riggs presents a guided meditation about the cultural mindset behind clearcutting.
Natalie Wright reviews an exhibit on “Plastic Entanglements” at the Chazen Museum of Art which explores questions of our plastic, synthetic world.
Artist and neuroscientist Christine Liu shares her zines, Nicotine and The Opium Poppy, that explore the links between plants, drugs, and the brain.
Part of the Water Protectors movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Drone Warriors use drone photography as a form of protest. An exhibit curated by Adrienne Keene and Gregory Hitch spotlights their work.
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.
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.
Haitian political history, TaÃno artifacts, colonial plantations, and even cholera bacteria leave their marks on the land in Kwynn Johnson’s 30-foot panoramic drawing of Cap Haitien.
In “A Manifesto about Migration, Freedom, and Diversity,” one artist creates mosaics of New York’s migratory birds from recycled MetroCards.
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.