Art Gene Residency
“What is it to live, work, parent, care and be part of a community in a time of climate collapse? How can we model and articulate ways of working with hope whilst taking responsibility for the ongoing colonisation of land and the labour of others? How can we become good ancestors working for future generations, and not as the philosopher Roman Krznarick states, ‘colonise the future’ ?
During the week of COP26, we will work with a collection of artists, local people and global voices to find common ground and hope. We will model new ways of working towards climate justice, land justice and radical futures – from a small corner of a field, on an island at this point in late capitalism.”
During COP26, Dana was artist in residence at Art Gene as part of the ‘Food, Futures & Biodiversity’ residency on Allotment Soup, a Community Growing Space on The Isle of Walney. Joined by lead artist Owen Griffiths, and fellow artists in residence Rhine Bernardino and Sam Ayre, they were commissioned to create new low impact artworks, for display in an outdoor exhibition, help organise and co-curate the day of events surrounding the exhibition, and present the final artworks at the ‘No More Hot Air’ exhibition, in February 2022.
Crucial to her investigation was learning about local challenges from Barrow residents and those who engage with climate issues. A conversation about climate guilt with one of the staff members at Dana’s accommodation, West Point Centre (WPC), triggered her main interest: how can we move away from fear and guilt about climate, and step into meaningful action? As a result, Dana conceptualised ‘Climate Therapy’ one-on-one sessions for the ‘Food, Futures & Biodiversity’ event, which were situated in a polytunnel on the allotment. Conversations were based on deep listening principles, allowing those who attended to speak openly and without judgement about their guilt and fears. Participants received a small toolkit inspired by the conversation Dana had had on the streets with locals, titled ‘you are a radical futurist - a toolkit authored by the climate mafia’, especially made for Barrow-based challenges.
For the ‘No More Hot Air’ exhibition, Dana created the series ‘The Holy Trinity of Collective Resistance’ - three prints that declare Adaptability, Resilience, and Confidence as key to combating climate catastrophe.
Photo credits: Maddi Nicholson, prints by Dana Olărescu
