Encountering Resistance: Creative Responses to Sustainability Agendas

Abstract

The quest for a more ethical and sustainable future can be a difficult and even daunting challenge to engage with. As Artists, Designer-Makers, Craftspeople and Educators engaged with this very contemporary challenge, I suspect that many of the Conference delegates will have encountered resistance to this aspect of their work; resistance amongst consumers, producers, audiences, students and, let's be honest, even ourselves on some level. Denial, Disempowerment and Disinterest are all commonly experienced reactions to sustainability agendas.

Yet, I would argue, finding positive, empowering and motivational solutions to these often deeply held positions in both individuals and the society they create, are some of the key challenges we face in attempting to aid the transition to a more sustainable society. Much can be learnt here both from and by the wider Education for Sustainability movement, through considering resistance to ethical means of 'production and consumption' amongst arts practitioners, students, educators and audiences/consumers.

In delivering this paper, I will draw upon some of my own experiences of attempting to embed sustainability within my own teaching & artistic practice of Photography. I will also draw upon my experiences and insights gained from the development of the online Sustainability Information Teaching Exchange (thesite.eu), my subsequent usage of the resources it offers as a sustainability workshop leader, and my sustainability activism within the Plymouth College of Art and elsewhere. I will contextualise these experiences with other contemporary theories and initiatives for embedding sustainability within curricula in the UK (primarily) and beyond. Most importantly though, I would like to open up a dialogue between delegates in which they share their own experiences and cross-fertilise ideas and insights from within their own artistic, research or teaching practices.

I will pose the idea that a 'Phenomenological' and 'empathic' approach (as adapted and modelled by Psychotherapy practitioners) to engaging people can help them move through resistance to more positive engagement with sustainable practices. I will explore ideas about transforming our view of
'sustainability' as a necessity born out of (negative) crisis, to more of an opportunity (positive) for creativity, growth and satisfaction. Examples drawn from design industries, ideas and practices for the 'Circular Economy' for positive inspirations, will also be discussed, as will the commonalities and differences between the Applied Arts and my own field of arts practice (Photography) in respect to these issues. Perhaps also, if time allows, we can question how the notions and practices of craft (with a small c, in its wider sense), process and conceptual enquiry can provide an experiential context for encountering and resolving these resistances.