I'm sure by now you've seen the viral tweet/phrase that goes something like "Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you're the one filming it" and while accurate, it's a bit self-deterministic. /1 - ThreadSky

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olimould.bsky.social • 45 days ago

I'm sure by now you've seen the viral tweet/phrase that goes something like "Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you're the one filming it" and while accurate, it's a bit self-deterministic.

/1

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olimould.bsky.social•45 days ago

First off, it sould read climate change 'is', not 'will', but secondly it's suggests that there's a spectacularlising climate catastrophe aesthetic which itself spreads as dangerously as the fires and underlying ecological conditions themselves /2

olimould.bsky.social•45 days ago

Images are important in raising awareness, but there's a Benjaminian critique here that aestheticising climate catastrophe risks letting the protagonists off the hook. Where aere the images of cliamte denail, insurers denying people security etc.? /3

olimould.bsky.social•45 days ago

Photography is a real skill, and done well can jarr people's emotions enough to stir action (think Tank Man, Kim Phuc, Aylan Kurdi etc.) but framing climate catastrophe purely to focus on the effects - as tragic as they are - lacks the political potency that imagery needs /4

olimould.bsky.social•45 days ago

So I guess this is a plea to the wonderful artists and photographers out there to get images that doesn't let the capitalists off the hook; find the image that will stir millions into action. History tell us that art has more than enough power to do that, we just need to find it and wield it.

/fin

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