Encounters: Things like this happen at sea

Authors

Paul G. Uhlmann, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Alex Hamilton

Author Identifier

Paul Uhlmann: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1715-6218

Document Type

Original Creative Work

School

School of Arts and Humanities

RAS ID

72271

Comments

Uhlmann, P., & Hamilton, A. (2023). Encounters: Things like this happen at sea [Exhibition]. Nyisztor Studio, Melville, Western Australia. https://www.nyisztorstudio.com.au/pages/exhibitions/exhibitions-2023.htm

Abstract

Research Statement

Research Background:

In 2022 the 6th report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for the first time drew direct links between the process of colonial expansion and climate change, asserting colonialism exacerbated the effects of climate change increasing the vulnerability of specific people and places. This practice-led research project aimed to underscore this insight through a convergence of recent and past events. Conceptually the artworks of Uhlmann folded two events in time–the moment of first contact with James Cook and First Nations Australia, an event marked by misunderstandings and violence, together with the recent megafires of 2019-2020 where 8 million hectares of vegetation was burned across the south-east of the continent. He asks the viewer to learn from First Nations Australian land practices to over-turn current poor colonial land management practices. Hamilton’s work critiqued Longtermism which aims to invest in the future of humanity by seeding far-flung planets with new colonies thereby generating an improbable solution to the climate crisis whilst at the same time ignoring the urgency of the current mass-extinction event.

Research Contribution:

The contribution of this research demonstrates that visual arts can express complex ideas and critique direct links between colonial expansion and climate change for eg. the artists’ book by Uhlmann ‘Ghosts’ drew on Cook’s journal to underscore the unwitting use of violence on First Nations people by Cook; the first contact was a tragic beginning of colonialism which ultimately led to dispossession, genocide and the disruption of Indigenous land management practices.

Research Significance:

The significance of this project is that as an act of social activism it makes direct links between the impact of colonialism and climate change and asks the audience to rethink our values. Nyisztor Studio is recognised as being a significant project space for innovative and experimental art within WA.