The series ‘Weather Patterns’ (2018) is a visual response to changes to the biosphere attributed to global warming caused by human interventions. In the image (Figure 6 Float) the past and future collide, becoming visible while floating into unchartered waters. These cool blue land and seascapes are relevant to a way of thinking through ‘listening visually’.[1]  The image highlights how extreme weather events impact upon the environment and humans. Watery, fluid paint features as a focus in a cool post-apocalyptic landscape. Techniques of glazing and pouring thin veils of multiple blue tints and tones develop a visual language to describe the aftermath of flooding, a sense of isolation, anxiety and uncertainty. A floating geometric shape of a roof hovers and drifts into the calm post- apocalyptic storm landscape. A fracture between the calm in the scene and the narrative of an apocalyptic event offers a lacuna in which viewers are invited to respond personally to dramatic life events and to reflect on the fragility of life and environment.

[1] Listening visually is my term for visual stimulus being considered as a voice, by making connections of seeing with your ears. I was told to listen with my eyes at a symposium on climate change at Newcastle University in 2017 by an Indigenous elder in a discussion that influenced me.

Image Credits to Alex Shaw 2017 Louis Lim 2023