Breath-taking: Creating artistic visualisations of atmospheric conditions to evoke responses to climate change

As solutions and strategies to counter climate change make little progress and scientists struggle to get their findings accepted in the public domain, alternative ways to foreground the urgency of climate change action and prompt changes in behaviour require attention. As long ago as 340 BCE, in his Meteorologica, Aristotle made connections between the body and the atmosphere that surrounded it. He compared our breathing in and breathing out to atmospheric exhalations, which he believed to be the way that clouds formed. Throughout history artists and poets have created representations of the atmospheric world, often with the intention of communicating its emotional effects. This paper will explore the potential for art to influence behaviour and attitudes towards climate change by linking the atmosphere and emotions through artistic representations. • Professor Lesley Duxbury is Deputy Head, Research and Innovation in the School of Art at RMIT University. As a practicing visual artist she has had work in major public art collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. She is interested in place-based art in Australia and has travelled to the Arctic Circle to better understand and visualise global climate change. Local-Global Journal, volume 10 Culture of Climate Change Adaptation in Australia Image: Flickr / Paul bic