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ArtRage Exhibition Uses Art to Show the Detrimental Effects of Climate Change ArtRage Exhibition Uses shows the Detrimental Effects of Climate Change

By Toluwanimi Fajolu

Anita Welych: I decided to document visually, I’m creating sort of a giant infographic in a way of the decline in bird species over 50 or 60 years and that this is what we used to have for these species, and now what we have is really only 39% of what there used to be, and that moving forward, it’s going to get worse unless we act to preserve spaces for birds to live and make conscious decisions about how we live our lives.

Carrie Drake: The artwork that I put together for the gallery also came out of those conversations of, okay, who were we talking to? What’s happening in the gallery? What were Christine and Anita putting together for the gallery and where, where were some of the empty space or what we’re missing in our conversation about climate change here? And I thought Anita and Christine really beautifully talked about data and hard facts and information and share that in a very accessible and phenomenal way. And we were sort of missing or we could use more of that. What’s happening at the individual level of what’s happening as we work together or don’t, how are we impacting each other?

Despite fewer people traveling during the pandemic, levels of carbon dioxide and methane continued to increase in 2020. This spike has accelerated the rise of sea levels and increased droughts, among other negative environmental impacts.

At ArtRage Gallery, the current exhibition, “Climate Connections: Our Shared Future,” hopes to inspire and empower the community despite these detrimental impacts.

“Issues around climate change can feel incredibly depressing and disempowering. I hope that people feel empowered or inspired,” ArtRage community engagement organizer Kim McCoy said.

The exhibition is a three-part collection from Anita Welych, Christine Chin, and Carrie Drake. All three artists used the scientific and communal impact of climate change as a driving factor for their various installations.

Welych’s “Dwindle” is inspired by the gradual reduction of bird populations all over America. This installation uses scientific metadata from 50-55 years ago and 2016-2019 to show how some populations have decreased. Welych’s exhibit is accompanied by a series of collages of a bird and the percentage lost over 50 years. She hopes her exhibition shows people that the dwindling of birds is a problem that affects us all and how we can help.

“I want you to feel kind of some love for them. And then I want you to think we have a problem. And I can do something about this, and that’s what I hope people leave with,” Welych said. “Therefore, birds are like the messengers for our whole environment. They’re telling us something in their absence. And so, we need to protect our environment in many ways, and not just to protect birds, to protect all living things, including ourselves.”

Photo of exhibition
Each bird on the map represents about 500,00 birds.
© 2023 Toluwanimi Fajolu

Carrie Drake, a teacher at the Montessori School of Syracuse, uses community and the impact of climate change on future generations as a driving force of her installations. Drake’s exhibition includes an interactive component, “Shared Impact,” that allows participants and viewers to reflect on the climate crisis. Participants are invited to color one of four Syracuse Parks – Barry Park, Elmwood Park, Onondaga Park, or Thornden Park – on plexiglass.

“So there are artworks that are put on the wall, and they are overlaid and juxtaposed together, and so their drawing or artwork of a park starts to disappear or stand out a little more based on what someone else has done,” Drake said.

Photo of exhibition
“This project kind of grew and became very much about what are we giving to the next generation, and that’s kind of what I brought to it, and I was really invested in how we could get kids to be a part of the conversation,” Drake said.
© 2023 Toluwanimi Fajolu

Drake also brought together a group of community knitters and Montessori School students as part of the “Tempestry Project.” The knitters used data of their birth year from a specific location to show the generational differences in the weather changes.

Participants are still able to be a part of the installation through the “Emotional Tempestry,” where visitors are able to choose a color that represents their feeling about the statement “What we had is not what we will leave behind.”

Photo of exhibition
Most of the Cyanotypes are from CNY.
© 2023 Toluwanimi Fajolu

The third part of the exhibition is Christine Chin’s “Concerning Climate.” It consists of a variety of installations.

  • Dust Storm Animations- Stop motion animation of sand on a hand-drawn map inspired by satellite imagery of the movement of dust carried by weather patterns over continents and oceans.
  • Stuffed Storms- Uses NOAA data to show a visual record of storm data from the Atlantic Tropical Storm Season
  • The Round Goby- Cyanotypes coated fabric from drawing of different specimens of the goby, which is expected to decline in the native fish species.
  • Invasive and Native Species Cyanotypes were mainly collected in CNY.

The exhibition is open at ArtRage gallery until May 20.

 

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