How is the Climate Crisis impacting YOU?

When walking around LCC last week, some of you may have noticed the mural (pictured above) displayed in the upper gallery. The mural – created by climate advocate, muralist, and recent MA Design for Social innovation and Sustainable futures graduate, Nicki Blanchard – was created to coincide with the general principles around racial, social and climate justice launched by UAL in April.

The entire mural was created using sustainable paint and supplies, something Nicki stated she now uses in all her work after realising how plastic paint can turn into volatile organic compounds harmful to the environment.  After discussing with the other climate advocates, they also collectively decided that if they were going to create a mural encouraging sustainability – they needed to lead by example.

‘If we’re going to make a mural about climate crisis, we need to walk the walk and talk the talk’ – Nicki Blanchard.

When coming up with ideas for the mural, Nicki stressed that she wanted to create something positive and inviting, rather than bombarding students with feelings of guilt or helplessness over the crisis. Although she acknowledged an environmental obligation, she also realised a social obligation to be responsible about the imagery she was infiltrating people’s life with. After hosting a co design session with the other climate advocates and consulting an environmental psychologist who emphasised the importance of positive imagery and colour psychology, Nicki was able to create a vision for her piece. The resulting mural encouraged students to write about how the climate emergency had impacted them on the flowers, and then write possible solutions to these problems on the bees.

‘Bees are a climate emergency issue that is tangible. We can see bees and flowers, and they are pretty to look at. It’s not like the earth is on fire – which is an image that is used a lot with the climate emergency’ – Nicki Blanchard.

The decision to make the piece interactive came from the desire to have real people discuss real issues which would not only bring the issue to the front of their minds but also hopefully then create a ripple effect out into wider society. As LCC is a hive for creative minds, Nicki emphasises that she wanted students to first acknowledge their power, harness it, and then become a part of the solution.

‘I didn’t want to just present a problem without also discussing solutions’ – Nicki Blanchard

Although the mural has been taken down from the LCC’s upper gallery, it will now be used as the climate advocate’s signature banner. They hope to be able to take it to different places and collect more stories so that it can continue to grow, change, and inspire.

‘It’s about listening to what people have to say. Listening and collaborating is how you make the best work’ – Nicki Blanchard.

We hope you managed to see the mural and write your own message! If not, then keep a look out for the next climate advocate project – they are sure to be cropping up everywhere soon as the university begins to work towards further promoting sustainability and embedding climate justice principles within the curriculum.

If you are interested in sustainable art or would like to find out more about Nicki’s work, then follow the links below. She has many exciting upcoming projects to explore!

@nickideux @colouringspaces
Portfolio: https://nickideux.portfoliobox.net/muralcollaborations
Colouring Spaces Mural Company: https://www.colouringspaces.org
The Cure-All MurALL Handbook: https://issuu.com/cureallmurall/docs/cureallmurallissu
UAL Graduate showcase: https://graduateshowcase.arts.ac.uk/projects/313330/cover