My #conscientpodcast conversation with photographer and writer Joan Sullivan whose work is focused exclusively on climate change and the energy transition. We spoke about her roots in science, her work as a columnist for Artists and Climate Change, how we are the climate emergency and liminal space between what was and what's next.

I’ve been wanting to have Joan on the conscient podcast since season 1 but she is a very busy artist and writer, plus we wanted to record our conversation in situ on her farm near Rimouski, Québec however COVID-19 did not allow that, so we settled for a warm remote recording on December 20, 2021, which was a lot of fun. I consider Joan a kindred spirit in our respective journey into the climate emergency through art. We both believe in the power of art and are both equally terrified by what we are doing to ourselves as a species mixed with stubborn belief that ‘we will pass through this’ and that ‘what waits on the other side is up to us to design’. 

Joan is an accomplished bilingual photographer and writer who uses both documentary and abstract methodologies in her work. She also writes a monthly column about the intersection of art, artists and the energy transition for the international blog Artists and Climate Change.

On her web site https://www.joansullivanphotography.com/, she describes her life (so far) in 3 acts as per below: 

Act One 

Joan Sullivan spent her first 50 years studying/working to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, mostly in Africa. With a master’s in public health from Harvard, she criss-crossed the continent at the height of the HIV epidemic, working for a variety of international organizations to fund community-based HIV prevention programs targeting the most vulnerable populations: women, migrants, orphans. She recognizes that it was a privilege, a gift in fact, to have been able to spend so much of her adult life in Africa. It was in Africa that Sullivan’s photography matured, thanks in part to Mike Hutchings at Reuters (Johannesburg office) who gave her her first gig as a stringer based in Botswana. Sullivan also moonlighted for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a photographer.

Act Two 

Upon returning to Canada, Joan Sullivan turned her cameras to an even greater cause: climate change. Since 2009, she has documented the construction of some of North America’s largest wind and solar farms. But the more the climate crisis worsens, the more Sullivan’s photography evolves from documentary to abstraction. Joan Sullivan is currently experimenting with intentional camera movement (ICM) as a new language to express her eco-anxiety and solastalgia about the planetary crisis and all that we have already lost. It was during the “Study of Artistic Practice”, a two-year program at the University of Quebec in Rimouski (UQAR) led by Danielle Boutet, that Joan Sullivan started working on her new series of abstract photographs entitled “Je suis fleuve” (English translation: “I am river”). Through this ongoing project, Sullivan embodies the chaos of the disappearing winter ice on the Saint Lawrence River. Since 2020, these “beautiful images filled with dread” (according to a review by Danielle Legentil, 2020) have been exhibited extensively in Quebec’s Lower Saint Lawrence region, including the Jardins de Métis, the Centre d’art de Kamouraska, and most recently the Centre d’artistes Caravansérail in Rimouski. 

Act Three 

The next chapter in Joan Sullivan’s evolving artistic practice is audio. She is currently experimenting with underwater recordings of melting ice, which for Sullivan evoke the cry of the belugas. Her next project will be a marriage of moving images and audio recordings in order to create a series of sensory and embodied multidisciplinary installations. Her first installation is planned for early 2023. But first, she has been invited to a winter residency along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, at the famous Jardins de Métis in eastern Quebec.

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Ma conversation #baladoconscient avec la photographe et écrivain Joan Sullivan dont le travail est exclusivement axé sur le changement climatique et la transition énergétique. Nous avons parlé de ses racines dans la science, de son travail en tant que chroniqueuse pour Artists and Climate Change, de l'urgence climatique et de l'espace liminal entre ce qui était et ce qui est à venir.

J’avais envie d’inviter Joan sur le balado conscient depuis la saison 1, mais elle est une artiste et une écrivaine très occupée. De plus, nous voulions enregistrer notre conversation sur place, dans sa ferme près de Rimouski, Québec, mais le COVID-19 ne le permettait pas, alors nous nous sommes contentés d’un enregistrement à distance le 20 décembre 2021, ce qui était très amusant. Je considère Joan comme une âme sÅ“ur dans notre voyage respectif dans l’urgence climatique à travers l’art. Nous croyons toutes les deux au pouvoir de l’art et sommes toutes les deux également terrifiées par ce que nous nous faisons subir en tant qu’espèce, tout en étant obstinément convaincues que “nous passerons par-là” et que “ce qui nous attend de l’autre côté, c’est à nous de le concevoir”. 

Joan est une photographe et une écrivaine bilingue accomplie qui utilise à la fois des méthodologies documentaires et abstraites dans son travail. Elle rédige également une chronique mensuelle sur l’intersection entre l’art, les artistes et la transition énergétique pour le blog international Artists and Climate Change. 

Sur son site web https://www.joansullivanphotography.com/, elle décrit sa vie (jusqu’à présent) en trois actes, comme indiqué ci-dessous :

Premier acte 

Joan Sullivan a passé ses 50 premières années à étudier et à travailler pour arrêter la propagation du VIH/sida, principalement en Afrique. Titulaire d’une maîtrise en santé publique de Harvard, elle a sillonné le continent au plus fort de l’épidémie de VIH, travaillant pour diverses organisations internationales afin de financer des programmes communautaires de prévention du VIH ciblant les populations les plus vulnérables : femmes, migrants, orphelins. Elle reconnaît que c’est un privilège, un cadeau en fait, d’avoir pu passer une si grande partie de sa vie d’adulte en Afrique. C’est en Afrique que la photographie de Sullivan a mûri, en partie grâce à Mike Hutchings de Reuters (bureau de Johannesburg) qui lui a donné son premier emploi de pigiste au Botswana. Sullivan a également travaillé au noir comme photographe pour la Fondation Bill et Melinda Gates. 

Deuxième acte 

À son retour au Canada, Joan Sullivan a orienté ses appareils photo vers une cause encore plus importante : le changement climatique. Depuis 2009, elle a documenté la construction de certains des plus grands parcs éoliens et solaires d’Amérique du Nord. Mais plus la crise climatique s’aggrave, plus la photographie de Joan Sullivan évolue du documentaire vers l’abstraction. Joan Sullivan expérimente actuellement le mouvement intentionnel de la caméra (ICM) comme un nouveau langage pour exprimer son éco-anxiété et sa solastalgie face à la crise planétaire et à tout ce que nous avons déjà perdu. C’est dans le cadre de l’Ӄtude de la pratique artistique”, un programme de deux ans à l’Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR) dirigé par Danielle Boutet, que Joan Sullivan a commencé à travailler sur sa nouvelle série de photographies abstraites intitulée “Je suis fleuve”. À travers ce projet en cours, Sullivan incarne le chaos de la disparition de la glace hivernale sur le fleuve Saint-Laurent. Depuis 2020, ces ” belles images remplies d’effroi ” (selon une critique de Danielle Legentil, 2020) ont été largement exposées dans la région du Bas-Saint-Laurent au Québec, notamment aux Jardins de Métis, au Centre d’art de Kamouraska, et plus récemment au Centre d’artistes Caravansérail à Rimouski. 

Troisième acte 

Le prochain chapitre de la pratique artistique évolutive de Joan Sullivan est l’audio. Elle expérimente actuellement des enregistrements sous-marins de la fonte des glaces, qui évoquent pour elle le cri des bélugas. Son prochain projet sera un mariage d’images en mouvement et d’enregistrements audio afin de créer une série d’installations multidisciplinaires sensorielles et corporelles. Sa première installation est prévue pour le début de 2023. Mais avant cela, elle a été invitée à une résidence d’hiver sur les rives du fleuve Saint-Laurent, aux célèbres Jardins de Métis, dans l’est du Québec.

The post e96 joan sullivan – the liminal space between what was and what’s next appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.

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About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer

The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.

I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.

The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.

Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.

Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.

my professional services

I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca

acknowledgement of eco-responsibility

I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.

a word about privilege and bias

While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.

Go to conscient.ca

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