Is there a relationship between individual self-image and global environmental change?

How might methods of art production reveal and inform the relationship between self-identity and ecological instability?

The self-portrait is an artistic method with a rich history. The self-portrait can be a window into the inner life of a person or a display of vanity and narcissism. It is highly charged in that the person creating the portrait takes responsibility for the inspiration, setting, the action and the expression; hence the truth of the moment is not external but instead coming from within. I am engaged in exploring the self-portrait as an artist using a new method and in a new intellectual and physical context. Instead of portraying myself, I provide the inspiration, space, permission, and equipment for other people to take their own photographic or video self-portraits. Through the interaction, the participant is required to consider carefully their internal environment, emotion, and reaction to the stimulus, effectively to construct a human relationship with the natural world and natural resources. I aim to reveal how this is shifting as we awaken to ecological degradation.

In a climate of change, both physical and metaphorical, human alienation from the natural world is creating ecological crisis. How does the concept of “The Other” relate to the ethics of responsibility in the philosophy of Levinas (1) when “The Other” is not a person but the Biosphere? What are the ways in which we feel interconnected and the ways in which we feel separate? From the over-consumption of fossil fuels to the destruction of the equivalent of fifty football fields of rainforest every minute (2), from over-fishing, to the floating plastic garbage island the size of the USA in the middle of the Pacific (3), the disconnect between our way of life and the environmental consequences is reaching a tipping point (4). An important aspect of this tipping is evident in rising consciousness about the gravity of the problems we are facing. Scientists have been explicit about the dangers of global warming and the threats of increased natural disasters, water shortages, disease and desertification if action is not taken quickly to reduce our impact. Meanwhile the economy is also facing a crisis and through the combination of ecological and economic fear, more people are evaluating their lifestyles, habits and needs in the context of the ecological and economic impact of energy, transport, food, home, shopping and work. However, the scale of the problems is so large that it is easy to feel that whatever change we might attempt personally is too little too late. Is there a relationship between self-image and our ability to grasp global ecological instability?

I am interested to research the quality of experience of the gap between the micro and the macro. In this unique period in human history and the history of the Earth, it is important to study how people are reacting to the threats of climate change, natural disasters, and loss of diversity. Information about climate change has largely come through the field of science and is mainly interpreted through a scientific paradigm. This is clearly important but in some ways there is a disconnection between the facts and our ability to fully comprehend and tackle the issues. Using an artistic paradigm to research these issues incorporates a creative inclusive process and the artwork itself can stimulate further dialogue and deepen understanding. What are the ways in which we are attempting to reconnect with nature versus the ways in which we live in denial or fall into hopelessness, depression and addiction? I feel that examining identity through the self-portrait is a relevant process for studying consciousness shifts of ecological awareness.

In my recent work the self-portraits have taken the form of photographs in which the participant used a remote shutter release to capture themselves in the setting in which they felt best and most connected to the ephemeral essence of who they are. I also asked participants to reveal where they felt most disconnected and together we created the environment and mood for the self-portrait to be an authentic expression of disconnection. Using video, I interviewed the participants, hearing directly from them the reasons for the choices they made. In taking responsibility for the moment, the participant chooses to reveal a highly personal aspect of themselves. The art expands to encompass more than my own vision and becomes collaborative and unpredictable. This project was exhibited at Grays School of Art in September, 2008.

To expand my method of working into doctoral practice based research on the theme of the self-portrait as insight into the consciousness of ecological change, I would engage a diversity of people and environmental experts from throughout Scotland. This would involve in-depth interviews that inform the creation of self-portraits in relation to their perceptions, questions and everyday experiences of ecology. I am inspired by what Grant Kester calls “Dialogical Art” (5) and Suzanne Lacy calls “New Genre Public Art” (6). In these forms of practice the artist begins from a place of listening, of generating questions and opportunities for dialogue.

How is the self-image of someone whose livelihood is directly dependent on the natural world, (such as a crofter on Harris) different from someone living in a large city (such as an office worker in Glasgow)? How is the self-portrait of someone who’s ecological or carbon footprint is twice the size of the national average different from someone who’s footprint is half the size of the national average? The interviews and portraits would address the relationships between each person and the natural environment, energy, transport, food, home, shopping and work as mentioned before. Through these interactions, photographs and video interviews, the objective would be to experience directly the lifestyle and worldview of each person in relationship with nature. How are people in Scotland grappling with global ecological instability and in what ways is change taking place? I would interview and collaborate with people from different geographical regions in Scotland, different professions and from a diversity of socio-economic backgrounds.

I would analyze the work of other artists in the field of Ecological Art such as the Harrisons, Betsy Damon, Shai Zakai, Gavin Renwick, Tim Collins and Reiko Goto Collins and art groups including N55, Platform, Common Ground, Wochen Klauser, RANE, and Superflex. The work of the Harrisons is particularly relevant as they are among the founders of Ecological Art. Their interactive practice and use of conversational drift and metaphor is relevant to the language of the interview and the insight that can come from addressing local and global ecological problems through a creative artistic approach. My research would also build on the doctoral studies of Tim Collins and Reiko Goto Collins. The philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (7) is relevant to the concept of alterity and Paulo Freire (8) to the process of listening and including participants in a collaborative or democratic fashion as I explore the self-portraits as collaboration. I am interested in Lucy Lippard’s studies (9) into the value of connecting to place and our local environment and Yale Professor Stephen Kellert’s research into Restorative Environmental Design (10) with a strong vernacular relationship to place. Also relevant is Deep Ecology and the work of Arne Naess (11). The output of this research will be a written thesis and a body of artwork and interviews that engages the public through its creation and also through an art exhibition.

Biographical summary

I would bring relevant experience to this research as I have worked for four years as the art director for an ecological engineering company, The Ecovillage Institute. EVI designs ecological bioremediation systems as well as consulting for carbon-neutral developments and educational work. I am the tutor for the Design for Sustainability Ecology Module online, which is part of the United Nations endorsed Gaia Education programme in cooperation with the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. I will finish my Masters degree from Grays School of Art in the Autumn and my thesis is on Ecological Art. I have worked on various interdisciplinary teams bringing in an artistic sensibility to industrial and municipal projects. I feel that my research could increase the understanding of the role of the artist in relationship to ecology and in bridging the gap between the micro and the macro through an exploration of personal responses to ecological change in Scotland.

Endnotes
1. Levinas, Emmanuel, and Richard A. Cohen. Humanism of the Other. Trans. Nidra Poller. New York: University of Illinois Press, 2005.
2. Laurance, William. "A Tropical Storm." Ecologist Nov. 2008: 86.
3. Marks, Kathy, and Daniel Howden. "The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan." The Independent 5 Feb. 2008.
4. Pearce, Fred. With Speed and Violence : Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change. New York: Beacon Press, 2008.
5. Kester, Grant H. Conversation Pieces - Community and Communication in Modern Art. New York: University of California Press, 2004.
6. Lacy, Suzanne, ed. Mapping the Terrain : New Genre Public Art. New York: Bay Press, 1995.
7. Levinas, Emmanuel. Totality and Infinity : An Essay on Exteriority. Trans. Alphonso Lingis. New York: Duquesne University Press, 1969.
8. Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Trans. Myra B. Ramos. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1972.
9. Lippard, Lucy R. The Lure of the Local : Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society. New York: New Press, 1998.
10. Kellert, Stephen R. Building for Life : Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. New York: Island Press, 2005.
11. Naess, Arne. Ecology, Community and Lifestyle : Outline of an Ecosophy. Trans. David Rothenberg. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

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