Urgency and the aesthetics of sustainability
activism | anonymity by william kingfisher
small acts caring bio-regions survival freedoms
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A young man pastes posters on bulletin boards in downtown Peterborough. In black ink on white paper are the roughly stencilled words PLANT THIS POSTER. Wildflower seeds are attached. Using wheat paste, he runs the paste down the middle of the back of the poster, allowing the sides of the poster to flap in the wind, and allowing time for someone to take the poster. If no one does, then the wind or the rain will carry it into the landscape. He says this is a chance for others to make something beautiful that will feed the birds, insects and butterflies. There is a range of ideas here. With a handmade silkscreen print of black words on white standard paper with a handful of wildflower seeds (all native species collected from this area) pasted to a
noticeboard that advertises local entertainment events, he brings together care for the land, an attempt to influence people into making small changes, a connection between art and sustainability, and his own anonymity. The artist was clear that his personal identity is unimportant; his focus is on what the project is trying to do. This particular poster is rough, done very quickly with a deliberate sense of urgency — no time to make it pretty – it has to be done now, no time to waste. The message needs to be clear and the flatness and the black and white point to this strategy. Colour would be a distraction and slow down the process.
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