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Semester 2: Visual Inspiration

My pinterest board I kept adding to throughout Semester 2, that inspired the style of my paintings and deisgn. I took inspiration from mostly 18th century traditional specimen paintings.

Here is the link to my board:

https://www.pinterest.nz/emmagustafson12/major-illustration/

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These are some slightly different iterations of my poster. 

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Visual Precedents for Poster

Poster Statistic: “the best way to protect against species loss is to keep global temperature rise as low as possible.” https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/half-of-plant-and-animal-species-at-risk-from-climate-change-in-world-s-most-important-natural-places

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Visual Inspiration

The display cases at Te Papa showcase the diverse species of New Zealand in the most beautiful way possible. I made my painting before I went to the exhibit and I was able to identify almost all of the 7 endangered species I painted, it was incredible to be able to see them in person. This exhibit will be an excellent resource for me in terms of gaining visual insight into these creatures as a reference point.

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Week 11 | Poster Development

I created a painting for my poster which exhibit some of our most threatened species, Chatham Island Black Robin, Coromandel Striped Gecko, Kakapo, Forest Ringlet, Maud Island Frog, Short Tailed Bat and Fairy Tern. I also posted it on my instagram and got some positive feedback! https://www.instagram.com/emma_evangeline_g/

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Te Papa’s Community stories: Taking action for nature

The Te Papa website in conjunction with the Te Taiao Nature exhibit has an interactive map that allows you to click on icons representing the different conservation projects going across New Zealand, when you click on the icons you are able to view a video about that specific project.

“River cleaners, tree planters, possum trappers, and climate crusaders. Explore stories from around Aotearoa of communities taking care of their natural environment.”

There are a range of projects, some address tracking and protecting specific species like birds and bats, others are more about habitat restoration- planting trees, pest control, recycling etc.

https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/science/community-stories-taking-action-for-taiao-nature

It also has a link to a collaboration page that allows people to get involved with conservation efforts across New Zealand.

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Te Taiao | Nature

This has been one of the most helpful parts of my research visiting the new Nature exhibition at Te Papa. The exhibition has a lot of new additions including a section on climate change, which features a number of interactive installations.

This board makes the effects of climate change visible and relevant to New Zealanders as they can see where and in what way their land will be effected.

The way the information is displayed makes the science behind climate change far more accessible for people who have no prior knowledge of it. The graph clearly indicates the extreme change in temperature over time, people simply cannot argue with these facts.

There is also a lot of information about or extinct species, particularly in terms of birds, the team at Te Papa created a ‘nest’ which conveys a huge array of native bird species, you can sample the sounds of each bird by pressing on the eggs underneath their picture and it also allows you to see their status in terms of being at risk of extinction.

What I thought the exhibition lacked was more of a correlation between species that are extinct and more differentiation between the ones that are in trouble and the ones that aren’t. I also felt the climate change installations could have had a bit more of a connection to how it poses a threat for wildlife, since the spaces were somewhat intertwined. But I thought it definitely did an excellent job at educating the public about climate change, the design sparked a lot of interest and were very user friendly and easy to understand, I think it would definitely reach people who come and visit the museum with limited knowledge on the subject, it really appeals to kids first and foremost and by engaging children you are also able to engage parents. Children may ask parents about what these interesting screens and animations are telling them which would help get the parents involved. 

The create a carbon-zero NZ installation shows an interactive animated landscape of our current NZ which is polluting, it has touch points where you can see the measures necessary to fix the problems, these solutions include less oil, solar, more windmills, denser housing, fewer trucks, less coal and less meat. It also asks visitors to make a pledge to change something in their lives in order to help the environment. This approach really resonated with me in terms of aligning with the initial goals I had for my project.

On the Te Papa website they go into detail about how they approached creating the exhibit. “How do you make topics like climate change and water pollution accessible and fun? Is it ok for Te Papa to take a playful approach to such serious territory?” https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2019/05/22/what-would-maui-do-playing-with-tough-topics-in-te-taiao-nature/

Another interesting part of the exhibit was the interactive survey that was projected onto a wall, where visitors answer questions on how they feel about a range of environmental subjects.

“Our new interactive tool The Current is expected to quiz 300,000 museum visitors every year, for at least a decade, on questions including water quality, pests, oceans, and climate change.  

Our experience developer Jen Craddock said it was new territory for the museum. ‘We know we had to tackle tough environmental topics head-on. As Kiwis we know we’re not as clean and green as we want to be – so what will we do about it?’”

https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/about/news/2019-news/have-your-say-on-pressing-environmental-issues-te-taiao-nature

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Endangered Species Foundation NZ

Came across this today through my research and was surprised I hadn’t heard about it before. It is very outdated and doesn’t do much itself other than ask for donations, it is very vague about where it’s donations are going and doesn’t advocate for individual conservation efforts as I would have expected it to do.

http://www.endangeredspecies.org.nz/

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My mum brought back this book from Pompeii after her trip 10 years ago and it popped into my mind when I was thinking about how I could illustrate the impacts of climate change and the extinction crisis. Each page shows what it was like before and when you flip the after there are cut outs of the parts of the structures that stayed the same and withstood the damage of the eruption.

I think this is a good design exemplar for me even though it’s not about climate change it accurately illustrates the change of a landscape in an interesting way, it’s more interactive than the previous concepts I’ve come up with.

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Week 10 | Contacting DOC and Forest & Bird

I asked Doc and Forrest and Bird about their priorities concerning what New Zealanders need to know or should be doing more of in regards to conservation and the extinction crisis.

“Hi there, I am a graphic designer and painter currently looking at the global extinction crisis and it's context within New Zealand for my honors project. I was wanting to ask what Forest and Bird feel New Zealander's should be doing more of to help our wildlife, and if people do not have the funds to donate what is the next best thing they can do? I also wanted to ask if there was any information Forest and Bird feel New Zealander's need to know at the moment in regards to conservation and climate change? I look forward to hearing from you! Thanks Emma”

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Our Actions in Context | Is it too late?

IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

“The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide. The Report also tells us that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global,” - IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/?fbclid=IwAR3PZd3KA3SWP3e_Rw_LxGUD9EDo54cZfFj5sZxJtieTS08W5lkGumZm5Pk

The video highlights the 5 most significant impacts on our ecosystems 1) Human activity impacting land and sea use such as agriculture and deforestation causing habitat loss 2) Exploitation such as poaching, over fishing 3) Climate Change 4) Pollution 5) The spread of species to natural habitats/introduced predators What can we do about these?  1) Reduce consumption of meat and dairy 2) Never purchase the products of poaching i.e. furs, ivory  3) Reduce carbon emissions by travelling less or switch to renewable energy if possible  4) Consume less and stay away from plastic as much as possible 5) Donate or volunteer with organisations attempting to control pests, buy traps yourself!

IPPCC REPORT  https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-1-pdf/

https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/SR15_Chapter1_Low_Res.pdf https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/opinion/sunday/fear-panic-climate-change-warming.html

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Taking action in New Zealand

There are numerous organisations and sanctuaries that people can volunteer with and directly help foster ecosystems and wildlife. This is one of the most direct ways to help save species in New Zealand.

Zealandia Through the website locals are able to sign up as members, donate and there are also seasonal volunteering options.

https://www.visitzealandia.com/Volunteer

Forest and Bird There are a number of volunteer opportunities with this organisation for New Zealanders but the main thing they ask for are donations.

https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/volunteer/volunteer-opportunities

You can also view their current campaigns which allows you to see where your money will go.

Forest and Bird have branches across NZ  Leigh branch: (https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/branches/warkworth-area)

Conservation Volunteers New Zealand, this site allows you to select regions in New Zealand and view upcoming events in your area. https://conservationvolunteers.co.nz

I found a tree planting day I might attend near where I live! https://bookings.conservationvolunteers.org/project/forest-at-the-heart-of-wellington-nursery-day

Adopt a Kakapo through DOC https://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/kakapo-recovery/get-involved/adopt-a-kakapo/

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Illustration Inspiration

New Zealand native bird poster by William Shaw Diedrich Schmidt in 1900.

Link: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22768034?search%5Bi%5D%5Bname_authority_id%5D=-119264&search%5Bpath%5D=items

A Little Patch of England by Lindsey Carr https://www.instagram.com/lindseycarrart/ 

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Week 9 | Speed Date

This week I presented 6 images to my speed date group that help embody my project at its current stage.

I asked the 5 people in my group if they'd seen anything that had inspired them to take any action environmentally, to live more sustainably and how they feel about climate change. The response was overwhelmingly that they do try to do little things where they can but that the issue seems too overwhelming and its predominantly big corporations doing the most damage which we seem to have little power over.

In terms of giving feedback on what I have designed so far, one person in my group asked me who my target audience was and I realised I really hadn't considered it enough, my book definitely won't appeal to people who don't give a shit about the environment and they are the ones that need to be hearing it the most.  -Maybe I could do something that exposes these big corporations, informing people about who does the most damage. This is an area I haven’t looked into very much.

So I had a little rethink about other book concepts and I asked my group about how the thought a children's book would go down, it would have to appeal to people through aesthetics it would seem like a lovely book about wildlife, tricking the audience to take notice and read but reveal the reality and instil panic at the end but have some route to action. (Not entirely sure how successful this would be.. even if people are exposed to images of animal cruelty and death with regards to animal agriculture it still won’t necessarily influence their habits.)  Another suggestion in response to my paintings was that I should paint a really apocalyptic scene of the future without this biodiversity and try to adequately illustrate the predictions of scientists, so perhaps I will try to create a landscape of 2050..

Kerry Ann told me to look into the work of illustrator Charlie Harper.. his work hasn't particularly resonated with me, because his style is so foreign from mine but I do connect with his perspective, “When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings... I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures.” ~ Charlie Harper

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Week 8 | Design Sprint

For week 8′s design sprint I presented a mock up spread and table of contents for my book.  The feedback I got from lecturers suggested I should make it far more poetic and emotive rather than factual, people won’t want to read paragraphs of morbid information and they will not get the message. 

I chose that information because I wanted people to understand what frogs do for the planet and ecosystems, explain what is happening and their context in New Zealand with regards to extinction. 

I wanted the book to look elegant but the typography doesn't work that well with the type, Kerry Ann suggested that perhaps I use captions instead.

Proposition:  How can I use my painting and visual communication skills to facilitate a dialogue about the extinction crisis, spread awareness and promote change?

Our planet is in the midst of an extinction crisis, there is an enormous decline in biodiversity happening across the globe and we are the cause. Human activity has resulted in climate change and pollution, the over exploitation of land due to agriculture and other developments have caused a great deal of habitat loss.

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What action is being taken?

THE EXTINCTION REBELLION

The Extinction Rebellion is an organisation in the UK which is helping organise protests and actions against Climate Change. They are advocating for a revolution and a complete change in economy. 

- Argue that climate change is a national issue that goes far beyond ‘party politics,’ there is a national duty to protect life on this planet. “Capitalism is the problem because its a system that exploits both humans and nature.”

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Precedents

I found a blog (http://www.beetlecherry.com/2016/05/23/illustration-wildlife-conservation/) that introduced me to an amazing ted Talk about illustration and conservation by doctor Lucy Spelman.

She created a site that brings artists and scientists together to collaborate on conservation projects called ‘Creature Conserve’ 

https://www.creatureconserve.com