I became really interested in art with a clear purpose or goal to produce some sort of benefit, specifically to the natural world. This category of art includes and meshes with other categories like Land Art, ecological art, activism art and environemtally focused art.
Natalie Jeremijenko is a key artist that creates installations, and artworks in an attempt to encourage inspire and create change. This change being specific to the discourse around climate change and local ecological diversity and well being. Jeremijenko sees her work as a strategy for change and acknowledges the crisis of ecological, natural and environmental health we currently see within our world With things such as global warming, pollution and the the rise in plastic in our oceans.
“Art can be anything we need it to be , and right now in the contemporary moment there is a need to explore this crisis of agency: what to do, not just as a gesture, but to rethink our relationship with larger systems.” -Jeremijenko
There are many pieces of hers that personally inspire and inform my own work such as the ‘Tree Office’, her environmental Pharmacy including ‘ Ag-Bags’ and her ‘Talking Bird Perches’ however the main piece I have focused on is the Moth cinema.
Moth Cinema - An interactive garden with flowers, screens and lights that along with high pitched noises attract moths (natural pollinators) to come and pollinate the flowers. By doing so the moths create beautiful shadows and shapes upon the screens installed, engaging and aesthetically pleasing for humans and beneficial to the moths who are both sustained by the flowers and then go in to pollinate crops are foods. The cinema sets out to raise the discourse around climate change, local pollinators and the simple ways we can create small change on a larger scale but communicating her works to the masses. The work claims to see benefits from the local pollinators, increase in local ecology eg the moth health and benefit the natural environment through the pollination of these specific flowers. The work however may not be as beneficial as it claims to be. jn reality the benefit to the natural world is minuscule with the pollination of a small amount of flowers confined to a local site. The benefits to the moths are debatable. The moths are getting sustained through the pollen and flowers however one could also argue that the bright lights and noise could aggravate and distress the moths, raising the question is it good for he moths ?
This being said one clear benefit of the work is the discourse that it arises in the art community and those interested in beneficial change to our world. By raising the issue on a much larger scale the benefit may be seen as a trickle down effect through all those that see and learn from her art. I know I personally learnt from her art and it communicated the way art can be a strategy for change from 1000’s of miles away, thus inspiring me to improve and learn about my own natural environment. The works have really inspired me to engage with the natural world and find simple ways I can create a benefit even on a small scale. It also has taught be to be overtly critical in the way art can create change, and not simply create art that has big claims with no real results. Instead I have began in my practice merely to explore communication of the subject instead of an outright cure or solution to the problem.
