Abstract

Nature is a construct inherited from Enlightenment thought. Our culture of nature—the way we construct, teach, communicate and perpetuate our concept of nature—has furthered the false dichotomy of an untamed nature versus a resource-consuming culture. This dualistic thinking has facilitated the current environmental crisis. We thus need a new culture of nature and a system of re-education that enables a symbiotic relationship between ourselves and our environment. A re-negotiation of this relationship is imperative to our continued survival on this planet; thus a reformation of the culture of nature can be viewed as an adaptive strategy. Systems-focused ecological art practice provides a platform for the process of re-education. A hyper-local focus integrating didactic display and community engagement is an effective strategy to re-cast environmental issues as social issues.

Committee Chair

Cheryl Wassenaar

Committee Members

Cheryl Wassenaar

Comments

Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/K7V1237G

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art

Author's Department

Graduate School of Art

Author's School

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Spring 5-2017

Language

English (en)

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