Interviews

In this interview, one of the pioneers and leaders of the eco-art movement, Newton Harrison, tells about the history of the emergence of this trend in contemporary art and its tasks at the present stage of its development, about how art can influence public opinion and the position of authorities and business regarding environmental issues. He considers the need for a union of art and science, broad interdisciplinary cooperation in the interests of continuous development, the role of poetic expression and his most recent works as a “counterforce” to the ecological crisis.

In this interview Wolfgang Schirmacher presents a philosophical understanding of the modern human attitude to environmental issues from the point of view of Heidegger's thinking and other philosophical trends of the 20th century. The contradictory nature of human being is indicated, striving to harmonize their co-existence with the living environment, the natural world and, at the same time, creating an artificial environment based on the development of technologies. The concept of eco-sophia is used by the author as a way of explaining and possibly overcoming this contradiction.

Olga Ezova-Denisova, an artist from Yekaterinburg, gave an interview to Ecopoiesis, in which she talks about her work and its connection with nature as a source of inspiration and beauty. She shares her experience of communication with the natural world and its knowledge through art and about the role of art, particularly illustration, in changing people's attitudes to the living environment.

Diana Sudyka, a Chicago based illustrator, working as a volunteer in the Bird Lab at the Chicago Field Museum, gave an interview to the Ecopoiesis Journal, in which she talks about her art and its relationship with nature, and various folk-art traditions, as well as her respect and connection to all forms of life, and how it is important to teach children to appreciate nature. She regards her connection to the natural world as critical for her mental well-being, and acknowledges that it provides almost all of the inspiration for her personal and commercial work. She is seeking to create something that has both elements of the spiritual and pagan, but also with elements of the specificness of science.

 

This interview focuses on Arran Gare’s thinking about ecological civilization and its relationship to a new theoretical ecology, strong democracy and political philosophy based on “ecopoiesis” or “home-making.” Gare believes that it is possible to create a global ecological civilization that empowers people to augment their ecological communities. Complex transformations of the social and economic organization of societies and a radical upheaval of our conceptions of what it means to be human are required to bring about this change to a new ecological (eco-human) culture.

The interview focuses on James Miller’s thinking about the relation between Daoism and ecology. Miller believes that, to develop a foundation for ecological sustainability, we need to break down the separation between human beings and the world we live in. This can be done by Daoist techniques of bodily cultivation, based on the concept of the body as porous and interpenetrating with the environment. Practices such as these will lay the groundwork for an aesthetic foundation of ecology.

An artist, art therapist and a member of Findhorn Foundation Community, Scotland, Beverley A’Court, gave an interview to Ecopoiesis Journal about her holistic, Earth-based approach to making art and practicing art therapy. She talks about the connection between art, therapy and ecology, the role of the body as ‘an environmental phenomenon’ and her use of nature and natural materials and objects in the art making process and in therapy.

Teagan White, an artist from Oregon, working as a volunteer in various environmental projects, gave an interview to the Ecopoiesis Journal, talking about their art and its relationship with nature and environmental issues. They shares their experience of co-creation with nature, their perception of death as a part of a holistic cycle of life and transformations of different life forms, and the role of art and creative self-expression for changing people's attitude to nature.