Encounter

Our 5th exhibition in collaboration with Durham Ustinov was based on the theme of Climate Change

This exhibition was a reimagining of the Encounter 2019 exhibition that took place in Durham earlier in the year and included the work of over 30 of the original artists as well as new artists invited by ourselves to participate.

Full artist line-up:

Alfons Bytautas, Angela Tracy, Anouk Saint, Barrie Ormsby, Brian Taylor, Camila Caiado, Clair Cooper, Dave Roberts, Diane Watson, Edward Lawrenson, Eliza Colin Hodges, Emily Chapman, Euan Lynn, Glenn McGregor, Henry Gonnet, Holly Standen, Honor Morgan, Iqbal Ahmed, Jade Blood and Bootham School, James Devlin, James Hall, Johnnie Foker, Joshua Leigh, Jun Koya, Karl Striker, Keziah Baskerville-Muscutt, Loopy Ladies Knitting Group, Lynda Marshall, Mag Jittaksa, Margaret Jennings, Melissa Fleming, Michael Laiho, Mick Stephenson, Miria Miria, Odin Coleman, Peter-Ashley Jackson, Romey Chaffer, Ruby Lindsey, Saskia Appleton, Saud Baloch, Siân Hutchings, Steve Wright, Timothy Ma,y Tracy Himsworth, Victoria Smith.


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In 1962, American playwright James Baldwin wrote that “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” This is very apt in relation to the current situation society finds itself in, with much uncertainty about the shape of the future at the local to global scale and what needs to be done to manage our way to a future that poses little risk to all living and non-living entities.

Amongst the range of ‘risky’ futures that we need to face, including political, economic and societal, is the one related to environment, of which climate change is a major component. The worry about the future relationship between climate, nature and society is articulated most clearly in the so called Paris Agreement, an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aimed at strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change. The ‘Agreement’ calls for an international effort to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Further the ‘Agreement’ encourages the 195 country signatories to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius since a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius would substantially reduce the risks and effects of climate change compared to a rise of 2.0 degrees.

Because of the gravity of climate change as a major societal issue and the considerable way we have to go to convince a range of audiences about the need to face the ‘climate imperative’ and achieve a sustainable future, the Encounter exhibition called for artists whose work engaged with the encounter between climate change, nature and society and the broader challenges of sustainability in the context of the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).