Generation Change was conceived as a visual statement to engage a wider public audience with the HELIX workshop, The Challenges of Communication Unwelcome Climate Change Messages in 2015 where artist Ruth MacDougall performed the role of Live Scribe.
From the artist:
The messages from this workshop could not have been clearer: climate change communicators must not only become more than ‘narrators of doom’, but also accept the need for ‘active hope’, constructed from realistic goals, imaginable paths, doable tasks and a meaningful role in addressing the problems at hand.
Whilst listening, interpreting and visualising these powerful messages, I was also carrying my first child and was inescapably challenged to consider how can we best raise our children in an age of climate change? How can these powerful and often frightening messages be framed in a way that inspires hope for the next generation, who bare no blame for our changing climate but must ultimately be the generation that leads the great transition?
The pop up installation in Thirteen a has planted an idea that will hopefully grow to have many responses. The white vinyl text, ‘Hope requires and uncertain future’ stood in bold letters across the gallery window whilst to its rear, was the image of my daughter in Morocco during the 2016 COPP. Printed in Majorelle blue on clear acetate. Like a stained glass window, the blue image and text were projected slowly around the room as the sun moved. Having observed the space and the movement of people on the street the installation was designed to be seen from the street. Indeed many passersby stopped to read the text and wonder at the picture. The flow of traffic along the street brought a more transient audience but who nevertheless could be clearly observed from car windows and buses, engaging with the message emblazoned on the window.
Learn more about the exhibit here.
The science of climate change communication 