“Climate Warnings: The Power of Canadian Environmental Art, Literature, and Creative Activism.” A public lecture by Professor Laura Moss.
March 2, 7:30pm, Green College Coach House
A Panel Discussion with Laura Moss, Warren Cariou, Stephen Collis, and Rita Wong on Art, Activism, and Climate Justice.
March 17, 7:30pm, Green College Coach House
In this year’s McLean Lectures, Laura Moss will concentrate on creative responses to the global environmental emergency in Canadian art and letters. As the climate crisis continues, many artists and writers have raised their voices for awareness, change, and justice. Professor Moss will trace imagined representations of the wounded environment from historical contexts to the present in order to question the power and the limits of turning to art in a time of crisis. She will focus on works that draw on physical materials from the land and water themselves as they write back to the changing environment. From examining photographs created out of Alberta bitumen to sculptures constructed out of plastic salvaged from the Pacific Ocean to poetry that imagines the consequences of deforestation on West Coast ecosystems, the series will explore the efficacy of art and activism.
This year’s series will be comprised of two evening events. On March 2, Professor Moss will present a public lecture and on the 17th of March she will be joined by several of the creators whose work she features in the lecture to discuss the relationship between art and activism, the climate emergency, and the limits of art in driving change.
