We live in moments of overlapping crises - ecological collapse, political fragmentation, displacement, digital disruption and widening social inequalities that intensify and reshape one another. These crises create an atmosphere of uncertainty that underly or contemporary conditions.
Climate change and water scarcity are realities that impact political, economic and social stress, encouraging people to migrate, reshaping where people live. People unrooted encounter borders hardened by political fear and economies that cannot absorb them, and social systems strained by inequality. These result in the reshaping of identities, nationhood, and community, creating new emotional climates of anxiety and disorientation.
This exhibition explores the power of the visual arts as a medium for reflection, resistance, healing and transformation. In the face of climate emergency, social fragmentation and rising instability, the visual arts are an important tool for making sense of complexity. Artworks can demonstrate awareness, provoke dialogue and inspire new imaginaries that spotlight visual arts as a meaningful agent of change, shaping public consciousness. The exhibition engages with the realities we inhabit and the futures we dare to shape. The artworks should remind us that creativity remains a powerful tool for understanding, for resilience and for transformation.
Avi Sooful, EVC, chair
University of Pretoria, South Africa