7 Powerful Examples of Climate Change Artivism

To celebrate World Environment Day, we’re diving into the impactful art projects that raise awareness and demonstrate the power of creativity to inspire change for the planet

Art holds the power to connect us with deep emotions and truths about life on Earth today. In the face of environmental change and crisis, there’s never been a more urgent time to make provocative and moving art about it: and that’s just what these seven artists have done.

World Environment Day has been held annually on June 5 for fifty years, inspiring millions to take action. Artists have been making work to deepen our connection with nature for as long as we’ve been making art at all, but awareness days like this are great for drawing our attention to them and reflecting on their powerful messages.

1. Deep Seads, by Sean Yoro

Around the world, coral reefs are bleaching, or releasing the algae that live in them and turning white due to stress. Hawaiian artist Sean Yoro (aka Hula) is known for making art in places that highlight environmental change such as icebergs. In this 2019 project, he created artwork underwater to share the story of the bleaching reefs. That’s right: he actually free-dived and painted three murals using eco-safe materials while under the sea.

And that’s not all: the paintings are actually bases for new reefs to grow on, providing a platform for life in the future. Learn about Hula's inspiration in the below video.

2. Glacier melt series, by Olafur Eliasson

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is well known for installations that investigate our experience of being humans in the wider natural world. In 1999, he photographed several glaciers in Iceland. In 2019, he chose to return and photograph them again, creating a response to his original “glacier series” that exposed the huge shifts occurring.

The work displays thirty pairs of photos of a rugged yet beautiful natural landscape that is bearing the brunt of accelerated climate change.

3. Nevada Rivers Project, by Daniel McCormick and Mary O’Brien

Like Hula’s, here’s another example of a work that has an additional practical use: these snaking river sculptures are now home to many creatures and helping to revive biodiversity in Nevada. Curved branches form long tunnels and rise up in tall sculptures to reinvent the landscape.

Mary O’Brien and Daniel McCormick have collaborated for thirty years, creating art that literally heals. According to their website, they want to “move away from an anthropocentric point of view”, with pieces where “the artists' presence diminishes, and the end result is remedial.”

4. Submerged Motherlands, by Swoon

This 2014 installation was inspired by Hurricane Sandy and also by a region that once connected Great Britain to the European mainland, called Doggerland. As sea levels rise due to climate change, the nature of our seaside settlements will change and millions could be displaced.

Swoon transformed a room at the Brooklyn Museum by building an enormous sculptural tree which supported a range of paper cuttings, paintings, and sculpted boats to help “get our hearts and minds around” difficult issues. See the installation, and learn more about the story behind it and how it was created, in the video below.

5. NASA drawing series, by Zaria Forman

These artworks are so detailed and lifelike that they make onlookers feel as if they are truly experiencing each natural beauty. Pastel artist Zaria Forman records the effects of climate change in super-realistic drawings, while traveling all over the world on high-profile residencies—with NASA, for example.

In 2016-2017, Forman joined NASA's Operation IceBridge. The team flew over Arctic Canada, Greenland, and Antarctica, using lasers and cameras to record changes. As a result, Forman created a large series of drawings that depicted exact coordinates on the map, showing the state they were in.

6. Sun & Sea (Marina), curated by Lucia Pietroiusti

Sometimes the most impactful art is the cross-disciplinary, that brings together a group of creatives who each care about the topic at hand. Lina Lapelytė’s opera, "Sun & Sea", was brought to the 2019 Venice Biennale by curator Pietroiusti and director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, with the libretto by Vaiva Grainytė.

An artificial beach was created indoors, where several performers walked around and lay on the sand, depicting a typical tourist destination. However, as they enjoyed activities like frisbee and picnics, they also sang about the shared anxiety we feel due to our impact on the world as we try to live our lives. They mention such themes as pollution, rising tides, harmful rays from the Sun, and extreme weather.

7. Ghost Forest, by Maya Lin

More recently, this public art project involved the planting of forty-nine dying Atlantic cedar trees in Madison Square Park in 2021. Each having its own characteristics, the trees were carefully laid out so that visitors could walk around them and connect with each one’s uniqueness. Ghost forests are becoming more common around the world as soil nutrients shift and other extreme weather events starve the trees of their normal life.

Watch the below video to learn more about the logistics and managing both the care of the trees and the carbon footprint of the project.

Cover image credit: Sean Yoro. Social media image: Zaria Forman.

Incorporate important causes into your creative projects…

If you've been motivated by seeing how these artists are tackling climate change in their work, explore these further resources to begin bringing important causes to light yourself.

1. Get inspired by the winner of the 2022 World Press Photo Contest.

2. Read these books about the natural world to inform your work with the forms and shapes of nature.

3. Learn about sustainable packaging so your products can support the environment, too.

4. Learn how to use mobile photography in socio-environmental projects with this course by Cris Burmester.

5. Finally, create nature-inspired wall art with this paper collage mural course by Clara Celeste Börsch.