I recently submitted this shadow box to a juried show at Button Factory Arts in Waterloo. They are celebrating their 25th year with a show that invited artists investigating activist and social art practices to enter their work.
In the past I have used art Art and other creative expressions in my work as a coach so I was excited to have the opportunity to enter a show with this mandate. Art forms such as painting, storytelling, poetry, drama and song provide containers for us to hold complex ideas such as the Climate Crisis.
Banksy’s art in public spaces inspired me to do these mini paintings or sketches as a way to take my concerns into the public sphere. Now I always carry several Matchbook Artworks with me to be left with friends and strangers I meet in cafés, shops or meeting places.
These 2 messages illustrate how people can enter engaging with the Climate Crisis on the micro or macro level. If being as Green as Greta seems overwhelming perhaps some small action like how you manage your lawn is the place to start. Avoiding the use of fertilizers and/or embracing dandelions and clover could be part of an overall shift in worldview. You never know.
I have heard the argument that small individual actions such as how you manage your lawn are futile. It seems to me that that is the wrong thing to focus on. Everyone has their own entry point. If you decide that “wasting” water on growing grass is where you want to start contributing, it is something to celebrate.
Our individual actions lead to a shift in mindset and that is what is ultimately needed. We have to take the climate crisis seriously and place it top of mind rather than arguing about whether an action counts.
My mom grew up influenced by a mother who lived through the Great Depression and who understood the deprivations people experience during WW2, there was a certain way of being that resulted that was universally accepted. From small things like the wrapping paper around butter being scraped for every molecule in order not to waste to the practice of planting and canning food for the winter, this way of operating was part of how I was raised.
These efforts helped to win the war. If we recognized the urgency my hope is that we rally in the same way.
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