‘An image is worth a thousand words’ famously said Napoleon
The COP28 (Conference of Parties), that just concluded in the UEA, gives us an opportunity to reflect on the global progress against climate ambitions. As always its outcomes are a mixed picture. An agreement on wording to transition away from fossil fuel was reached at the very end of the negotiations. However the conversations on financing were short on details on how developed economies will scale support to scale low carbon energy - you can check this great summary of the implications of this year’s COP. Since the Paris Agreement, the world has altered its climate trajectory away from the catastrophic impact of hitting over 3°C of warming, but we are still a long way away from the safe zone below 2°C of warming.
In a recent episode of the podcast Zero, Akshat Rathi discusses with Al Gore how to accelerate climate action, the shortcomings of the COP process and how to overcome them, a must listen. Towards the end of the conversation, they address an important point: facts alone won’t change people. There is a dual need for both more data and transparency to inform business decisions, and for more public, social and economic pressure on companies to act.
However, creating engagement in the climate conversation goes beyond sharing robust scientific fact or taking direct action, as demonstrated by the strong polarisation around the topic. This is where the power of visual storytelling can help.
The power of imagery is currently mainly used to drive our thirst for more and our desire for newness. However, it can also be an effective tool to shift narratives and behaviours. I had the opportunity to speak with Amber Olson, who is behind the competition, to learn more about the idea behind Art Partner’s CreateCOP competition and what she has learned over four competitions.
CreateCop: An example of visual storytelling
CreateCop is a global competition inviting concerned creatives from across the globe and across the visual arts to participate. Art Partner launched the competition in 2019, as an open call for young creatives, aged 14 to 30, to generate conversations around the climate urgency.
The competition provides a platform for emerging creatives to use visual storytelling to amplify the call to action to solve for climate change and tell their stories about the effect of changing climate conditions. With contestants from over 100 countries, the competition often highlights how this crisis most severely impacts marginalised communities.
This project allows to foster conversations about the effect of climate on people and communities, by replacing words with images and statistics with emotions. This competition hopes to stimulate the empathy that drives action.
The entries are evaluated by globally recognised judges including photographers, artistic directors, and climate advocates. You can discover the winning entries alongside 20 honourable mentions in this virtual exhibition room.
Meet this year’s winners
First place: Gab Mejia for The Passage of Storms.
The philippines are one of the countries most affected by climate change, especially as they receive an increasing number of typhoons. Annually the country has to weather around 20, that are getting stronger every year.
For his winning entry, Gab Mejia documents the scars left in the aftermath of the most powerful typhoon of 2021, Super Typhoon Rai - known locally as Odette. Through his photography of the communities most affected by its destruction, he asks the questions:
Who do they call on, when these storms have left their scars? Who are these “gods” in which they try to seek salvation? Wrapped within their thoughts and tides that surround their home of an archipelago, are they survivors or mere victims of an insidious cyclic system amid the tides in which they depend on?
Second place: Kasha Sequoia Slavner for 1.5 Degrees of Peace
This film documents the life of those daring to dream of solutions at the intersection of climate, violence and conflicts.
For her entry, award winning filmmaker Kasha Sequoia Slavner follows 3-4 young people in regions most affected by nexus of the climate crisis, militarisation, conflicts, and systemic violence. Her documentary asks the question:
In a time of converging crises and multiple existential threats, how do we elevate the voices of those who are seeking to make the links between climate justice and peace? How do we bring peace into the global climate conversation?
Second place: Francesco Migliaccio for NIGHTMARE
This film explores both sides of seaweed; on one side they are a nourishing carbon sink, on the other a toxic, polluting infestations.
For his entry, Francesco Migliaccio explores the complex economic and environmental dynamics of seaweed farming:
The downside of Seaweed Farming is first related to exploitation of local communities that usually provide seaweeds for the global market. In India, women sea divers expressed their distress over the fact that traders pay only Rs 50 per kg for the seaweed they collect, without considering the risks they take in their lives like inhaling dried seaweed.
Third place: Julia E Daser for Flooded House
For this entry Julia E. Daser created a participatory artwork that explores the question how would be change if we suffered the consequences of our own unsustainable actions?
Third place: María Legaristi Royo for Mhaijeratt Tales: Living Amidst Landfills
For this entry María Legaristi Royo documents the life, hopes and undying spirit of a community living on the fringes of an ever expanding landfill.
Third place: Lize Briel for Ocean Soundscape: Installation about Ocean Pollution
For this entry Lize Briel created a 20 minutes musical work integrating trash in the composition of a quintet to raise awareness on ocean pollution.
Third place: Chloe Karnezi for Junkspace
For this entry Chloe Karnezi created a film that examines waste as a failure of imagination through the morphing of everyday objects.
Third place: Corinne Rivera for Styles of the Anthropocene
For this entry Corinne Rivera imagine what climate haute couture could be using artificial intelligence, highlighting the tension between luxury and environmental degradation.
Learnings from four editions
Visual storytelling is a critical way of engaging into empathetic and constructive climate conversations. Providing a space for visual artists to create from a place of passion will lead to imagery that moves audiences. For example, the winning entry of CreateCOP27 by Lizeth Lozano Palomino, attracted significant attention towards the oil spill from a Repsol ship in January 2022 that littered the Peru coasts with over 11,900 barrels of crude oil. Following her winning entry the story was picked up by El Pais, bringing global attention to the disaster.
I invite you to visit the website of CreateCop to discover this and previous year’s winners.