Artist
Xavier Mosere-Storms
Category
Publicity
Medium
ArcGIS Map
Date
December 02, 2023
Xavier’s digital map outlining the ice levels of the Arctic Ocean in September of 1985 works to represent how the overwhelming amount of information around climate change can quickly become overwhelming to the individual.
Each section of the map is interactive and contains a myriad of responses around Climate Change - ranging from Trump’s ignorant comments to data representing the depressing amount of waste that Americans can produce in a minute to try and emulate within the viewer an emotional response to large amounts of information.
Xavier hoped to showcase in some way the feelings of loss, frustration, etc. that he felt after being confronted with a vast sea of information all at once when talking about Climate Change both in his personal life and within his academic spaces. To do so, he showcased how no matter what type of information people are being shown there is still an emotional response to just the amount of labor [physical, mental, emotional] required to understand the complexities of even just one statement on the map.
When Xavier came across the concept of Climate Grief and Climate Denialism through Rose B. Simpson's interview with Jessica L. Horton, it stuck with him throughout the entirety of the quarter because of the way in which he saw these responses within his own experiences.
He began researching different ways that people responded to Climate Change and wanted to see what was shared between them. A lot of differences between just these two types of climate reactions came up that it was almost too overwhelming, but he also found that a lot of them stemmed from feelings of hopelessness and more specifically the feeling he wanted to explore - feeling overwhelmed.
Thus, he wanted to showcase on a map a physical representation of being overwhelmed and how easily the public can find themselves in a similar situation, as well as working within the group to combat this feeling of despair or denialism with the following works that inspire hope and push through these grief-filled feelings.
Assets Used (Citations):
Esri, ArcGIS, 1999 – Present, web-based mapping software