Immersed: Case studies in art and ecology

Climate change and biodiversity loss are cultural as much as scientific events, and art can play a role in exploring and debating the current climate crisis. Observational drawing is used as a way of paying careful attention to what is here and now, to produce multiple responses to my lived experience and interconnectedness with my environment. Drawing forms a key part of my praxis, as I learn through a combination of reflection and action in art and in gardening. In seeking sustainability and an ecological civilization we need to first rewrite old ways of thinking and feeling. This thesis examines and critiques the predominant western conceptualisations of the non-human world. Ideas of nature, landscape and wilderness are considered, and how the duality between humans and the non-human they imply can be part of the colonial project. Current ideological models of ecology and new materialism are examined as to how they seek to dissolve this binary, and for what they might offer to the practices of gardening and art. Acknowledging the agency of the non-human world and the coexistence of humans within a web of relationships can lead to art that is ecological. Māori and other indigenous ways of thought and practice are considered, and are seen have many correlations with this ecological thinking. Two case studies are presented; the Nature of the National Parks, and nature in the suburban garden. I examine how art can reveal and critique these ideas and assist in moving towards a new understanding of the place of people in the world. In creating an exhibition presenting my interaction in the ecology of the garden, the intellectual and political labour of the artworks may provide a cognitive and reflective experience to the gallery audience.