As part of my Master of Fine Art (Studio Art) research, I am creating installations exploring climate change and social isolation as issues of disconnection, but approached through a lens of hope and care. Research for this project is based on several primary questions, including "How do we meaningfully visualize these crises?" and "How do we study and mend environmental and social disconnects in the Anthropocene through transdisciplinary research?"
I am a visual artist with training in climate change research. In my studio practice, I am currently learning and developing techniques to mend broken stones (embodiments of the Earth) by piecing them together using kintsugi and kintsugi-inspired methods. Kintsugi is a Japanese repair technique traditionally used to mend broken ceramics that highlights rather than hides the cracks, thus finding beauty in fragility, change, and imperfection.
This concept of imperfect repair is an apt metaphor for what’s needed to address society’s most pressing issues—the challenges do not disappear but as we mend, we reconnect what is disconnected.
