Sustainability in Focus

According to a 2024 report from the Office for National Statistics, 58% of people said that climate change and the environment were the most pressing issues facing the UK today.  Meanwhile, the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, the biggest ever standalone public opinion survey, showed that four out of five people worldwide wanted their governments to take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis. There is hardly a day that goes by where the newspapers don’t feature some aspect of the issue, whether that be summits like COP, the actions of activists like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, or the very real consequences of global warming, such as the recent devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. There is no question – this is a topic at the forefront of current international discussions. The art world is no different, and countless artists use their platform to advocate for climate justice and a more sustainable future. Renowned figures like Agnes Denes, Mitch Epstein and Richard Misrach have dedicated decades to shining a light on the impact of human activity on the planet, whilst new technologies present opportunities for galleries to place viewers at the heart of oceans and forests. These five exhibitions offer the profound opportunity to reconnect with the world, creating a vision of a future built on harmony rather than destruction. 

Mitch Epstein (b. 1952) is one of the most distinguished photographers working today. The artist is known for dissecting what it means to be American. Gallerie d’Italia brings together three of Epstein’s most influential series – American Power, Property Rights and Old Growth – which explore the conflict between US society and the wilderness in the context of the climate crisis. The artist created American Power between 2003 and 2008, travelling the country to photograph fossil fuel and nuclear power production sites, as well as the communities that live alongside them. Old Growth celebrates the remaining ancient forests discoverable across the US. Meanwhile, Property Rights questions who owns the land and who has the right to exploit or despoil resources. The images investigate the complex dynamics of property ownership in a country built on colonial expansion and industrial development.

We know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the oceans that cover more than 70% of the planet. Ocean is a journey of discovery above and below the surface, where history and the present meet in an intersection between art and science. The exhibition includes a vast range of works, including Anna Atkins’ groundbreaking cyanotypes of seaweed, Emilija Škarnulytė’s art film from the depths of the Gulf of Mexico and Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka’s incredible glass models of marine invertebrates. The show is split into three sections, which consider the relationship between the seas and science, the mythical stories we learn about the oceans and the destruction wrought by the Anthropocene. A key work on display is John Akomfrah and his video installation Vertigo Sea (2015), in which the ocean is a stage for the destruction of cultures and the environment. 

In 1968, Agnes Denes (b. 1931) unveiled the piece Rice/Tree/Burial. Curator and historian Peter Selz credited the work as “probably the first large scale site-specific piece anywhere with ecological concerns.” The artist has been at the forefront of environmental activism ever since. This latest work, presented as part of Desert X biennial, brings together the natural and the man-made. The pyramid, often a symbol of ancient civilisation and human achievement, has been central to the artist’s practice for more than half a century. Here, the shape is covered with vegetation native to the Californian desert. Its structure and appearance transform in sync with the life cycles of the plants. The monumental sculpture is a reminder to audiences of how “art exists in an evolutionary world where objects are processes … and reality itself is forever changing.” 

Kunstsilo brings together the work of Marpi Studio and artist Sissel Marie Tonn to take audiences on a journey into the depths of the ocean. The exhibition considers life beyond the water’s surface and the challenges it faces. Marpi Studio’s The Northern Ocean Series introduces a mysterious underwater world filled with tentacles and algae that emerge from the deep. Futuristic sea creatures drift through digital currents. Tentacles and antennae extend toward and around digital avatars, mapped with Kinect sensors. When the audience touches the forms, the forms respond in kind. Meanwhile, The Sentinel Self is an interactive artwork reflecting the entanglements between the human immune system and environments increasingly polluted by microplastics. Built in a game engine, it simulates a complex ecosystem of hundreds of interacting, cell-like creatures.

Richard Misrach (b. 1949) is one of the most influential artists of his generation, instrumental in pioneering the use of colour photography and large-scale format in the 1970s. For over 50 years, Misrach has captured American West’s dynamic landscape through an environmentally aware and politically astute lens. The visually seductive, large-scale vistas powerfully document the devastating ecological effects of human intervention, industrial development, nuclear testing and petrochemical pollution on the natural world. Pace Gallery presents CARGO, a series that started during the Covid-19 pandemic and were taken from a single location in San Francisco Bay. The images centre on the light, water and weather. This is a prime example of Misrach’s enduring interest in bearing witness to events from a singular vantage point over the course of months and years. 

Words: Emma Jacob

Image Credits:

Richard Misrach, Cargo (January 11, 2022 5-02 pm). Pigment print mounted on Dibond60″ × 80″ (152.4 cm × 203.2 cm), image, paper,and mount62-1/2″ × 82″ × 3″ (158.8 cm × 208.3 cm × 7.6cm), frame.

Maple Glade, Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Washington 2017.

Emilija Škarnulytė. Still from ‘Aphotic Zone’, 2022. Single channel installation, 4K, 5.1 sound, 16’, Duration: 15 min. © Courtesy of the artist, Erik Cordes and the Schmidt Ocean Institute, and Fondazione In Between Art Film.

Desert X 2025 installation view of Agnes Denes, The Living Pyramid at Sunnylands Center & Gardens, photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy Desert X.

© Marpi Studio.

Richard Misrach, Cargo (January 14, 2022 6-51 am). Pigment print mounted on Dibond60″ × 80″ (152.4 cm × 203.2 cm), image, paper,and mount62-1/2″ × 82″ × 3″ (158.8 cm × 208.3 cm × 7.6cm), frame.

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