In 2023, Norwich’s Sainsbury Centre became the first UK museum to appoint a Curator of Art and Climate Change: John Kenneth Paranada. By early 2024, he had led a group of artists and researchers on a 36-hour journey across the North Sea in pursuit of the question: “can the seas survive us?”. Now, the resulting exhibition, titled A World of Water, opens at the museum. It is one of three concurrent shows that explore our shared and increasingly precarious relationship to the sea. With this programme, Sainsbury Centre is establishing itself as an institution that is unafraid to ask big questions. Can the Seas Survive Us? follows last year’s What is Truth?, an equally important roster that questioned misinformation in the digital age.
A World of Water is an urgent display that shines a light on the collective, global effort to mitigate the impacts of climate change and to support action which restores marine ecosystems. It spans work from as early as 1540 to the present day, with contributions from Eva Rothschild, Julian Charrière, Maggi Hambling, Olafur Eliasson and many more. It traces changing artistic perceptions of the sea, from romanticised views to urgent reflections on environmental crisis, adaptation and resilience. Paranada says: “A World of Water charts shifting tides, vanishing coastlines, and the voices of communities on the frontlines of climate change. Spanning five centuries, it connects the North Sea to global waters, exposing how power structures shape ecological futures. As rising seas redraw maps and disrupt economies, the exhibition demands a reckoning: What must change to secure the future of our entangled seas?”
The season continues with Darwin in Paradise Camp by Yuki Kihara (b. 1975). The interdisciplinary creative, who is of Sāmoan and Japanese descent, makes work that draws attention to the detrimental effects of climate change in the Pacific Islands. Pacific Islanders are responsible for less than 0.02% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet their proximity to the sea means they are amongst the most vulnerable to shifting weather conditions. In the series Paradise Camp, Kihara highlights the impacts of climate change on Sāmoa’s most vulnerable inhabitants: the third gender communities Fa’afatama and Fa’afafine, to which the artist also belongs. The body of work, which was previously presented at the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion in the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, is rooted in archival research and up-cycles compositions by French painter Paul Gauguin (1848–1903). The display at Sainsbury Centre will present the images alongside original pieces by Gauguin for the very first time.
Sea Inside, opening on 7 June, completes the trio of shows. It features experimental contemporary artworks from renowned names like Laure Prouvost and Hiroshi Sugimoto, asking: “Have you ever wondered what it feels like to live underwater, to be inside a shell, or even the belly of a whale?” It’s all about humanity’s intrinsic connection with the sea: physical, psychological and imaginary. Overall, this season is must-see. This is art that makes a difference: prompting audiences to think differently, question what they know and take action in the face of crisis. As Jago Cooper, Director of the Sainsbury Centre, explains: “The collective way the artists, curators, activists and storytellers have built this exhibition together is truly inspirational. They have created a spellbinding journey across the imaginative oceans of human innovation and hope.”
Can the Seas Survive Us? is at Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, until 3 August 2025.
Image Credits:
1. Yuki Kihara, Two Fa’afafine on the Beach (after Gauguin), 2020, c-print. Copyright: Courtesy of Yuki Kihara and Milford Galleries, Aotearoa New Zealand
2. Julian Charrière, Midnight Zone, 2024. Copyright the artist, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany
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