Transformation: Rebuilding Relationships, Creating Resilient, Watery Communities
Curatorial statement
This exhibit addresses the impacts of climate change on fresh and saltwater ecosystems. ENBS artists engage with a local creek (Bowker) which begins its journey in wetlands at the University of Victoria’s west side of campus. They address larger concepts of stormwater management through digital visualization, poetry, drawings and photographs.
Stream Water
Bowker Creek originates in a wooded area in between ‘parking lot 9’ and the ring road by the fraser building. Its flow is largely occulted, flowing through Oak Bay, Saanich and Victoria, before outflowing at oak bay close to the Glenlyon-Norfolk school. Creeks like Bowker are more than ecosystems, they represent a communications system in that they connect the micro (the creek is less than a meter across in numerous places) to the macro. Bowker Creek exemplifies what our treatment of local ecosystems means for global systems. In much the same way, the University of Victoria connects local students to international students and facilitates global exchange of ideas.
Ocean Water
The ocean is where “we become most aware of background noise in our daily lives. This unending noise of waves crashing on the shore is not a phenomenon as such but rather the opposite ” The ocean is “the site of all possibilities, is where all life emerged and it is where all life will return”. (Michel Serres [1995] paraphrased in Caleb Kelly [2009] ) In this sense a child’s sandcastle on the beach is a statement of both permanence and impermanence and the clarion call for transformations of the way we speak about, and to the ocean.
Climate Hope
What we need achange to our approaches to Climate Change. Though these artworks reflect eco-anxiety, a difficult subject, we can also see examples of hope in this work. It is from this hope that we can begin to rebuild relationships with each other and the planet and in turn build resilient communities, including ecosystem communities like watersheds.
ENBS
Engage with Nature-Based Solutions (ENBS) is the post-doctoral work of writer and geographer Dr. Maleea Acker. Funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada, ENBS is a new initiative to support communities who apply nature-based solutions to their local lands and waters. We collaborate with communities, collect and curate resources, produce education modules, facilitate storytelling, and provide technical equipment (for monitoring and testing in the field). All of our work supports access, engagement, and education, and illustrates the impact and benefits of nature-based solutions.
In 2023, ENBS commissioned six Canadian artists whose work straddles the art/science divide. Their pieces were inaugurated in Charlottetown, Victoria, Montreal, Cortes Island, and Alert Bay. Now, five of these artists’ works are featured here, in a creative engagement with the challenges that climate change presents.
Learn more at engagewithnbs.ca
Artists
Erin Robinsong & Merlin Sheldrake
Poet Erin Robinsong and biologist Merlin Sheldrake work at the intersections of science and art. Robinsong’s book Wet Dream is “an expansive, erotic, and enlivening book of ecological thinking”, and won the AM Klein Award for Poetry. Sheldrake’s Entangled Life is an international bestseller, won multiple awards and, according to New Scientist, is “an eye-opening exploration of [the] mysterious taxonomic kingdom” of mushrooms. Working together for the ENBS commission, Robinsong and Sheldrake explore inter-kindom perception and communication through a series of poems addressed to the sky, soil, ocean, plants, and other nonhuman kin.
Kirstie McCallum & Ken Josephson
Kirstie McCallum is an interdisciplinary artist who is based in Charlottetown, PEI, and teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). Ken Josephson is a cartographer and artist in the Geography Department at UVic. Their collaboration grew out of a community mapping workshop and art exhibit (commissioned by ENBS) that took place in Charlottetown in August 2023. The Winter River project explores the identity and meaning of rivers and waterways in a time of changing climate.
Emrys Miller
Emrys Damon Miller is a communications strategist, graphic designer, and visual artist living in Victoria, BC. He’s the director of Rocketday Arts, a small, boutique studio that focuses exclusively on projects that aim to build a healthier planet. Miller held a PhotoVoice workshop for Geography students in 2023 at UVic; these photos and drawings draw from both his ENBS commission and the workshop.
Colton Hash
Colton Hash is a digital artist and educator who resides on Songees, Malahat and Sc’ianew territory in Langford. Through a unique coding process, Hash creates impactful digital installations that foster nuanced thinking about ecological systems. Hash received his MFA in Visual Arts from UVic, and studied Computer Science, Visual Arts and Environmental Studies as an undergraduate student.
Student Artists
Students from around campus have submitted their works on climate action to the student-led Living and Learning with Climate Change project. Their works are features on the main floor of the library and are curated around a theme of water and community.