Storytelling through crises: creative responses to climate and nature

Pop-up exhibition and panel discussion on creative responses to the climate and nature crises

In a fascinating pop-up exhibition and panel discussion as part of the 2021 ESRC Festival of Social Science on creative responses to the climate and nature crises, students, educators and artists joined together to explore creative collaborations and discuss how educators can harness the arts to engage students with environmental issues.

The panel included:

  • A 6th form student participating in the Autumn 2021 “letters from the future” digital storytelling workshop 
  • Bill Finnegan, doctoral student at the Oxford School of Geography and Environment, Environmental Change Institute Energy Group, creator of the “letters from the future” digital storytelling project 
  • Trisha Gopalakrishna, doctoral student at the Oxford School of Geography and Environment, Environmental Change Institute Ecosystem Lab, collaborator on the “The Salvage Eaters” artwork
  • Temujen Gunawardena, artist, animator and visual scribe (@tem.jam), creator of “Message from 2050” animation based on the “letters from the future” digital storytelling project
  • Neeli Malik, graduate of the Oxford Ruskin School of Art, Artist in Residence at the Ecosystems Lab as part of the Oxford Art, Biodiversity and Climate network, creator of “The Salvage Eaters” artwork
  • Sarah Watkinson, Emeritus Research Fellow in Fungal Biology at the Oxford Department of Plant Sciences, recent Writer in Residence at Wytham Woods, author of the poem 'Woodland Restoration’

Partners included the Buckinghamshire and Oxford School Sustainability Networks, Oxford Festival of Social Science, and the TORCH Climate Crisis Thinking in the Humanities and Social Sciences network.

Part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science

Children's cartoon representation of a society, showing transport systems, renewable energies, buildings, and young people with binoculars. Sign reads 'Exploring society together'