Art, Ecology, and Climate: Environmental Justice

One of several e-museums devoted to ecological and climatological topics, these artworks invite viewers to reflect on how the ecological harms they depict are entwined with cultural histories of inequity. Some works attend to ways that ecological disasters expose and exacerbate structural inequalities within or across cultures. Others depict developmental and agricultural practices that over time have heightened the potential for various kinds of ecological crises. Still others highlight histories of harm caused by the extraction and use of natural resources such as fossil fuels, valuable minerals, water, and fertile land. The reasons for these resource grabs, perpetrated by various cultures, nations, and industries, include everything from the desire for economic gain, territorial control, and political power to entertainment and knowledge production. Although viewers may find some of the artworks in this museum disturbing, either because of the harms they depict or the broader histories of trauma with which they engage, we invite you to reflect critically on the cultural and environmental histories that each of these artworks engage.

Many more artworks located throughout the Art, Ecology, and Climate e-Museums can be contemplated productively through the lens of environmental justice concerns.