Considering Climate, the symbol being an abbreviation of the same and pronounced “C square” is a series of reflections on small scale projects aimed at understanding climate crisis funded by the CHASE climate justice network small grants. Each episode contains powerful information to help comprehend the climate realities of quotidian existence from various parts of the world, occupation, gender. It is a critical blend of discussions on imagining and knowing about sustainable universities, eco-anxiety, climate action, critical optimism, ecopsychology, amphibious lives, arts-based research, digital media, and environmental justice movements, the more -than-humans, ecological despoliation, techno-tantric embodiment.
Techno-Tantrik Embodiment – Considering Climate
- Techno-Tantrik Embodiment
- George Cloke in conversation with Souksaveuy Keotiamchanh)- Happy Garden/ສວນສຸກໃຈ (suan suk chai)
- "There's a climate crisis… so what?"
- Annie Goliath – Embodied Listening
- Artistic Approaches to Record Trauma Narratives of Climate Exiles in Anthropocene: Seks Workers Painting a Life of Migration
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Episode details
Episode 1
Kayonaaz Kalyanwala: Collaborative Research and Storytelling for Environmental Justice
34:16 min
Kayonaaz introduces her research project where she examines how Adivasi (indigenous) and Dalit women in India use digital media to counter dominant narratives on environmental justice, sustainable development, and climate change, and what power asymmetries they must overcome to do so. In her work together with Maati Collective, Kayonaaz developed workshops to research different facets of power in storytelling and video making, as well as the transformation of the collective itself over two decades.
The project introduction in English is followed by a recording of her interview with members of the collective in Hindi, adressing the relationship between research, knowledge production and activism. You can follow the english language translation in the podcast transcript, or download the transcript of the interview as a pdf here.
Kayonaaz Kalyanwala is a writer and postgraduate researcher at the University of East Anglia, specialising in communication and development.
Maati Collective is a grassroots women’s collective in Uttarakhand state, working on gender and social justice and creating lives and livelihoods with dignity and equality. They work on stopping violence against women, eco homestays, reviving woollen weaving, forest conservation, amongst other projects.
Resources:
PDF Transcript (including English translation of Hindi portion)
Episode 2
23:46 min
In this episode, podcast host Amrita presents insights from her work, a participatory arts-based research project with the community of sex workers residing in the Mongla Port Brothel of Khulna, Bangladesh. Battered by repeated cyclones and floods, this community is constantly losing their brothel land to the escalating levels of sea water. The climatic phenomenon has rendered the community ‘amphibious’, forcing them to conduct their business both on land and river boats.
Amrita DasGupta obtained her PhD at SOAS University of London. Her research sites are the deltaic ecologies of the Indian Ocean, where she maps the evolution history of the littoral sexual cultures of port brothels.
Episode 3
Annie Goliath – Embodied Listening
26:22 min
In this podcast episode, Annie presents her artistic project, a site-specific soundwalk that responded to 7 trees along a walking route in Alexandra Park, Hastings. The sound walk composition is composed of field recordings, a poetic voiceover and music, produced in collaboration with the composer Black Astronaut. The project fosters qualities of respect, care, and an embodied listening to plants, while highlighting the benefits of reconnecting with the natural environment upon which humanity depends. Overall, this project aims to reimagine the relationship between the human and more-than-human world from a decolonial lens.
Annie Goliath is an award-winning, interdisciplinary artist-filmmaker, singer, artist facilitator and researcher who lives and works between London and Hastings. Goliath is studying a Creative and Critical Practice PhD at the University of Sussex and in 2019, completed her MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. She works across an array of expanded practices including film, performance, installation, sound and socially engaged art.
Episode 4
Elliot Honeybun Arnolda: There is Climate Crisis… So What?
25:31 min
Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda from the UEA Biodiversity Climate and Action Network (BCAN) in conversation with Amrita DasGupta
In this conversation, Elliot reflects on a series of six workshops organised in the previous year at UEA, that looked at dealing with different ways to engage with the climate and biodiversity crisis. The sessions provided an accessible and creative way to engage with the different framings of the climate and biodiversity crisis.
From the networks statement: “We do not need more knowledge on this topic, we need new ways of talking about the problem, imagining alternatives or understanding the epistemic and ontological architectures of how we learn, the social and material realities of how we act and how we might possibly act and to understand the political and institutional barriers that are against us as a collective.”
Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda is a researcher at the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia.
Episode 5
George Cloke in conversation with Souksaveuy Keotiamchanh)- Happy Garden/ສວນສຸກໃຈ (suan suk chai)
21:24 min
George takes us on an acoustic journey into the Vientiane garden of Laotianenvironmental activist Souksaveuy Keotiamchanh. Care and commitment to non-human perspectives has seen her organisation Zero Waste Laosgrow into the leading climate awareness and youth action network in the country. Through innovative environmental initiatives and her ebullient desire for a more equitable future, Souksaveuy has inspired a new generation of climate leaders and recently received the ESG [person] of the Future Award.
George Cloke is a soundartist, fimlmmaker and PhD researcher studying ecocinema and environmental art at SOAS. Souksaveuy Keotiamchanh is the founder of Zero Waste Laos and a prominent environmental advisor. In her free time, Souksaveuy spends time in her garden, growing plants to give away to neighbors and friends.
Episode 6
Clémentine Bedos: Techno Tantric Embodiment
48:32 min
Clémentine Bedos in conversation with Sibahle Serpent, Finchittida Finch, and Eunjo Lee.
Since 2019, Clémentine has been integrating and sharing Tantrik teachings to heal transgenerational trauma and empower subaltern communities. Tantra’s holistic practices bring images to the mind through meditative visualisations, breathwork and movement, utilising the body and the sensual to harness the power of sensations and emotions. In this podcast, they introduce their transmedia project titled “Techno-Tantrik Embodiment.” In conversation with their collaborators Finchittida Finch, Sibahle Serpent and Eunjo Lee, they explore personal and ancestral experiences, memories and stories that relate to Tantra, community, artistic practices, activism and empowerment and discuss how artistic and media works can integrate and transform these in the creative process.
Clémentine Bedos (they/them) is a London-based transdisciplinary artist. Drawing from a diverse ancestry as well as a background in law, philosophy, and fine arts, their research-led practice explores the interrelated phenomena of mind, body, and consciousness within our present dominant modes of identity.
Finchittida Finch is a multidimensional artist, her work is centering around embodiment and nature, integrating holistic and ecological practices for collective healing.
Sibahle Serpent is a South African multi-disciplinary artist studying anthropology and visual practice.
Eunjo Lee is a London-based digital artist working with 3D animation, her work explores the ecological interconnectedness of various entities.
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Production Credits
Ideation: Amrita DasGupta
Podcast Host: Amrita DasGupta
Producer: CHASE Climate Justice Network
Editor: Amrita DasGupta, Naomi Hennig
Music: George Cloke
Contributors: Annie Goliath, Kayonaaz Kalyanwala, Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda, George Cloke, Clémentine Bedos, Amrita DasGupta
Supported by: CHASE DTP, Arts and Humanities Research Council
CHASE Climate Justice 