Chance to enjoy a bit of hope in a time of crisis

Group exhibitions are tricky to get right, but the Southbank Centre shows how it’s done with Dear Earth, writes Claudia Lee.

From June 21 to September 3, the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre presents Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis, a timely exhibition exploring how international contemporary artists are reframing our responses to the climate crisis.

Featuring works from 15 international artists, this exhibition focuses on feminist and underrepresented perspectives on our relationship with the earth.

The exhibition is unique and immersive, there is a raised box that you can walk on to and see running water below your feet, or a pair of reptilian eyes that sit in the upstairs terrace.

Dear Earth’s theme of inspiration rather than despair runs strong throughout the works.

Feminist murals suggest a communion with nature is still within our reach, and beautiful sprouting rewilding projects offer hope of a new beginning.

Dear Earth: Art And Hope in a Time of Crisis is anchored by artist Otobong Nkanga’s suggestion that ‘caring is a form of
resistance’.

The catalogue is printed on recycled paper using vegetable inks, the onsite cafe is vegetarian and vegan, installation materials are reused and any fresh paint on the walls is the first climate-positive paint in the world.

Flashing signs direct you to large installations hanging from the ceiling. There is a textile sculpture by Aluaiy Kaumakan.

The Axis of Life & Vines is a large-scale textile installation. Red, pink and orange, the sculpture has been created using a traditional technique of hooking and weaving called Lemikalik in Paiwanese.

Ms Kaumakan is from the Paiwan Paridrayan tribe of indigenous peoples in Taiwan.

Ms Kaumakan’s first presentation in the UK – transported here from Taiwan by sea freight to reduce CO2 emissions – calls back to the devastating impact of Typhoon Morakot in 2009 which displaced the Paridrayan people, but who remained intertwined by their memories and cultural legacies.

The show also includes new commissions from artists and community groups.

Dear Earth is presented as part of Planet Summer, the Southbank Centre’s wider summer season of work centering on the climate emergency.

Rachel Thomas, chief curator at the Hayward Gallery and curator of the exhibition, said: “The exhibition Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis brings together three generations of artists who offer us compelling ways to reflect on and reset our relationship to the major environmental issues of our time.

“Designed to engage us on multiple levels, their artworks are a source of inspiration, hope and resilience.

“This is an exhibition that aims not to breed despair, but to bring audiences closer to this overwhelming subject in ways that can spark active and imaginative responses.”

The Hayward Gallery, part of the Southbank Centre, has a long history of presenting work by some of the world’s most adventurous and innovative artists.

Catch Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis at the Southbank Centre before September.

Website: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/art-exhibitions/dear-earth

 

 Picture: The Axis of Life & Vines by Aluaiy Kaumakan. Pictures: Mark Blower, courtesy the Hayward Gallery