Disquiet: Ecological Anxieties and Transformations [Touring Exhibition]

The touring exhibition, Disquiet: Ecological Anxieties and Transformations, initiates consideration of and conversations about challenging questions regarding our use of natural resources, emissions and consumption as well as how waste is processed or discarded and how these practices impact the environment. We interrogate the ecological impacts of marine and coastal plastic pollution by using plastic marine debris that has been found washed up on the beaches of far north Queensland to create works of art which amplify and raise questions about the pollutants’ resulting destruction. Research Background: Research shows that discarded plastics now contaminate the diets of 90% of marine bird species, as well as turtles and seals (Diaz, 2018). Plastic never disappears; it simply breaks up into microplastics, forming an underwater “smog” affecting everything from plankton to human aquaculture (Cox, 2019). As people are the sole source of plastic pollution Changing human behaviour is key to transform the current ecological disquiet. The problem of educating community members about the threat posed by plastic pollution is addressed in this research. Research Contribution: The travelling exhibition Disquiet: Ecological Anxieties and Transformations, by artists Robyn Glade-Wright and Barbara Dover render visible the harm caused by plastic in works that educate through the engagement of the imagination. The works of art are made for plastic waste collected on Far North Queensland beaches. They answer the research problem by presenting original artefacts that transform understandings and reveal ideas and connections in a new form. Community engagement activities that support the exhibition included: a catalogue, an artist talk, a children’s art and four stories that were distributed to schools, suitable for infant, primary, high school and senior high school levels. Research Significance: The exhibition will be viewed by 45,000 people. The significance of the work is indicated feedback from Mackay where by 82% of the 540 responses rated it as very good or excellent. The exhibition attracted $19,400 in a touring grant. The works contributes to understandings of effective environmental communication in the arts.