critical mass: the art of planetary health exhibition
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As we celebrate 20 years as a City within a World Heritage Area, the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre is launching critical mass: the art of planetary health on 3 October to lead a conversation about the emerging science of Planetary Health.
Blue Mountains City Council Chief Executive Officer Dr Rosemary Dillon said: “The Blue Mountains is one of Earth’s wonders. As a Council, we embrace the responsibility to provide planetary health leadership and to enable sustainable livelihoods at this critical moment in global history.
“The exhibition is the first in a series of initiatives about Planetary Health, led by a partnership between Blue Mountains City Council, Western Sydney University and the Monash Sustainable Development Institute.”
Mayor Mark Greenhill said: “I encourage our community to visit this important exhibition that will run at the Cultural Centre in Katoomba until 6 December. As one of only two cities within a World Heritage National Area, and the only one in Australia, we feel it is our responsibility to be a leader in the conversation about planetary health.”
Planetary Health links the things we do, with the health of people and the health of the planet. Its aim is to provide a framework for us to reassess and adapt human practices to better support a healthy planet for current and future generations. It also includes learning from the more sustainable resource management practices that have been used by traditional peoples from around the world for millennia.
Monash Sustainable Development Institute Director Tony Capon said: “Planetary Health offers practical solutions for today’s challenges. Art and visual storytelling is a great medium for engaging communities as we strive for planetary consciousness in everyday life.”
The critical mass: the art of planetary health exhibition features Russel Drysdale, Simryn Gill, Fiona Hall, Hans Heysen, Janet Laurence, Sydney Nolan and Louis Pratt alongside Blue Mountains and regional NSW artists Locust Jones, Heidi Axelsen & Hugo Moline, Ona Janzen, Alexander Boynes & Mandy Martin, Rachel Peachey & Paul Mosig, Joan Ross, Andrew Merry and Dean Sewell.
The exhibition is a visual exploration of how people relate to our environment and how we have lived then and now, inclusive of food, energy, and resource sharing.
“Through their work, the participating artists, social activists and traditional owners reflect on eco-anxiety and examine the roles that traditional knowledge, technology, science and human ingenuity can, and must play in stabilising our environment and developing a more equitable society,” Blue Mountains City Council’s Cultural Services Manager Paul Brinkman said.
“It is a fascinating insight into how artists over generations have reflected on our relationship with our environment.”
The Planetary Health program of activities is part of Blue Mountains City Council’s delivery of the Blue Mountains Community Strategic Plan 2035.
Sustainable Blue Mountains Together
Photo: Blue Mountains City Council’s Cultural Services Manager Paul Brinkman with Chief Executive Officer Rosemary Dillon with some of the pieces that are currently being unpacked for the upcoming critical mass: the art of planetary health exhibition. Credit: Louis Pratt, Regret and legacy (detail), 2019, coal, steel &resin, 182 x 100 x 100cm (irregular), courtesy the artist.