Pass the parcel:visualising environmental action
This hybrid workshop series explored creating photographic representations of locally situated environmental actions and disseminating them globally, as an invitation for the others across the world to creatively respond to these photo-stories. These emerging photo-stories acted as catalysts for specific environmental actions – through participants being invited to make personal action commitments and invitations to others to take environmental actions inspired by the dialogue.
Research questions included:
-How to visualise actions beyond superficial environmental actions (recycling, green consumerism etc)?
-How to visualise collective, community actions beyond individual actions?
-How to visualise environmental justice as a process rather than an environmental utopic destination?
-How to visualise environmental actions beyond human agents, giving voice to more-than-human actors?
Organisations: Participatory Design Conference / National Institute of Design (India), Northumbria University (UK)
Location: Newcastle, UK / Ahmedabad, India / Online
Selected Photo-stories
Below are selected photo-stories from the submission from these workshops. Due to space constraints, only the first photograph of multiple photo-story submissions includes the photo-story text below the image.
Seema Krishnakumar (Ahmedabad, India)
Idea
Campus of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad beautifully accommodates an ancient Gummad (dome). Though its real use is still unknown, the very essence and presence is very symbolic in nature; the much needed co-existence that contemporary India scream for. It is one of the things remain unchanged about the campus from its inception in 1957.
Action
Co-existence of ancient and the contemporary in the context of India is so much what we need to work towards!
Audience Invitation
How can we still conserve the ancient while build the new?
Catalina Giraldo (Colombia)
Idea
Damaged freezers for fish and an old fisher canoe become edible gardens for a fishing community living on the Magdalena river floodplain in Colombia. They have patios (backyards) that flood once a year, but this is how they have begun to produce nourishment as part of their food sovereignty dream.
Action
Creating edible gardens at home and in the neighborhood commons not only helps us get closer to food sovereignty, but also produces a lot of positive actions, such as greening cities and rural areas, reclaiming seeds from our ancestors diversifying our diets with superfoods, medicinal plants, and spices. Furthermore feed bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies, some of the most important and beautiful pollinators.
Audience Invitation
We can help ourselves and our planet Earth avoid severe global warming and climate change by greening our patios. When we dream of edible gardens at home, our creativity explodes and inspires us to give garbage a new life, compost the organic scraps from the kitchen to enrich the soil, create family and community work, and exchange food from our gardens.
Priscilla Nainby (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Idea
This is a photo taken at the city of Edinburgh during the bin men strike for the whole August. The rubbish quickly piled up across the city during the festivals when there are around 2 million visitors. There is a homeless man in front of the trash asking for money and at the back there is a poster of a stage show and at the very back is the five stars hotel Sheraton. The bins look like any of those art installation with trash theme, and they are everywhere in the city. As a residence, while we are annoyed by the rubbish, we are supporting the bin man strike. So we are not doing what we would usually do as a community to clean up the rubbish. Internally, the annoyance and the activist mind sort of fighting each other. For me, as an immigrant from third world country, I grew up seeing trash like this type. This photo shows the contrast of the two main challenges of the first world, homeless and trash.
Action
I live across a school in Edinburgh. Every day after the students have gone home, there are trash everywhere. The best way about trash is through education. Perhaps some sort of social innovation with school children with this sort of trash installation, and a visit to understand the work of the bin man, could be a great project to work on.
Audience Invitation
Please think of activism of wanting to clean up the trash while at the same time supporting the bin man strike!
Nirupama Kannankattil (India)
Idea
Chai cups looking at the state of affairs in the college canteen. Its about reflecting on sustainable lifestyles. The cycle seat is symbolic to the same and also guiding eye movement.
Action
I can continue to be conscious of these visuals and create more of them in my work around communicating research
Audience Invitation
Their own lifestyles, be a little mindful
Nusreek Rahman (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Idea
Rooftop gardening
Green Dhaka
Green Community
Action
To campaign for reduced utility bill and rent for buildings with rooftop gardens
To make it a trend for people of all ages to take part in
To establish a sustainable method of rooftop gardening with respect to roof area and cost of gardening
Audience Invitation
Dhaka is accused of being lifeless due to its pollution and traffic jam. Rooftop gardening is one of the best recreational activities to do at home, which not only brings life to the citizens but also to the city.