Art and Creativity in an Era of Ecocide

What can creativity achieve in an era of ecocide? How are people using creative and artistic practices to engage with (and resist) the destruction of life on earth? What are the relationships between creativity and repair in the face of escalating global environmental crises? Across twelve compelling case studies, this book charts the emergence of diverse forms of artistic practice and brings together accounts of how artists, scholars and activists are creatively responding to environmental destruction.
Highlighting alternative approaches to creativity in both conventional art settings and daily life, the book demonstrates the major influence that ecological thought has had on contemporary creative practices. These are often more concerned with subtle processes of feeling, experience and embodiment than they are with charismatic 'eco-art' works. In doing so, this exploratory book develops a conception of creativity as an anti-ecocide endeavour, and provides timely theoretical and practical insights on art in an age of environmental destruction.

Anna Pigott is Lecturer in Human Geography at Swansea University, UK. Working in the field of Environmental Humanities, she is particularly interested in the impact of art and storytelling on our responses to environmental, social and economic crises.
Owain Jones is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Humanities at Bath Spa University, UK. He has published over eighty scholarly articles and edited four books including Visual Culture in the Northern British Archipelago (2017).
Ben Parry is Senior Lecturer and Course Leader of the MA in Curatorial Practice at Bath School of Art, Bath Spa University, UK. He is co-editor of Waste Work: The art of Survival in Dharavi (2023)and works as an artist, curator and independent researcher at the intersections of art, activism and urban space.

List of Illustrations
Introduction, Anna Pigott (Swansea University, UK), Owain Jones (Bath Spa University, UK) and Ben Parry (Bath Spa University, UK)
1. A conversation through listening to everyday walks, Michelle Duffy (University of Newcastle, Australia), Kaya Barry (Aalborg University, Denmark), Caroline Scarles (University of Surrey, UK), Peter Varley (Northumbria University, UK) and Michele Lobo (Deakin University, Australia)
2. Entangled encounters with an estuary: Making-with, making as coping,Lydia Halcrow(Independent researcher, UK)
3.Behavioural adaptation through reflective imagination via artistic experience in an era of ecocide, Alejandra Wah (University of Groningen, Netherlands)
4. Deep materialism and care-taking: A study of material relationships for the twenty-first century, Alison Harper (Independent researcher, UK) and Sarah Chave (University of Exeter, UK)
5. Willow, weaving, worlding and a politics of change, Anna Pigott (Swansea University, UK)
6. Be mindful: Plant intelligence, art and patience,Sue Spaid (Independent researcher)
7.The beckoning silence: Reconnecting humanity and nature on the Silent Trail, Laila Chin-Hui Fan (Ph.D. candidate at National Normal University, Taiwan)
8.Ancient boglands and the Irish peat industry: Does culture mitigate ecocide? Tim Collins (Collins & Goto Studio, UK) and Reiko Goto (Collins & Goto Studio, UK)
9.Interim Bangalore: Bodies as Sensory Data Collectors, Laura Denning (Independent researcher)
10.Rewriting the machinic Capitalocene: Using speculative fictional methods, Charlie Tweed (Bath Spa University, UK)
11. Incendiary: Curating art protest in the toxic airs of Stroud's rural green idyll, Patricia Brien(Ph.D. candidate at Bath Spa University, UK)
12. A zone to defend: The role of art and ritual in prefiguration, Ben Parry (Bath Spa University, UK)
13. Did the sky used to be full of birds? Claire Loder (Independent researcher, UK)
Index