By Daniëlle Gerber
Sustainability has become a (literal) hot topic during times of global warming – with young adults seeming to be the ones most concerned and considerate of sustainability. This was reflected at GradEx, which is the Graduation Exhibition for Stellenbosch Visual Arts students at Stellenbosch University.
While visiting the gallery, nature and sustainability were two of the main topics – personally, I counted six artists who referred to the state of our society and ecosystems within their work – there could be more. This illuminates the importance of the environment in young adults’ lives and the emotional influence that it could cause.
Additionally, there was some diversity in the relation of the climate crisis and the artist, showing the complexity of the problems that we face within interacting and striving towards the concept of a sustainable future. These different iterations lend to the understanding that while the crisis of unsustainability might seem external, there is an internal manifestation felt by the youth, waiting to be expressed.
Some interesting takes on sustainability include Simone van der Walt’s Considering our Words, which reflects the language used around sustainability and the associated ambiguity. Megan Badenhorst brought the concept of ‘Climate Doom’. Badenhorst has created a company called Speropunk, which works towards Design for Tomorrow, Hope for Today. This display showed a range of infographics, which captured the interaction of ‘hopeful troublemakers’ with the climate crisis. View the designs on Behance.
Hannah Joy Morgan’s exhibition, Afterlife, depicted the relationship between people and clothing, with an emphasis on mindfulness when thinking about future fashion. The message of clothing telling a story was also conveyed. Lastly, Zoë Milner draws attention to the interconnection (and inter-dependency) between people and the natural environment in An Investigation of Microbs and Multi-Specie Design in Modern Society.
Sustainability is interdisciplinary, and these manifestations of expression show the diversity in approach needed to embed it within our society. The artists present at GradEx chose to spend the year iterating and working on their approach to communicating an aspect of sustainability and the related climate crisis. While this may seem like a strategic choice, one might argue that it was a necessity to express the climate doom that simply cannot escape the psyche of young adults.
Instagram handles of the artists mentioned:
Simone van der Walt: @ssvdwalt
Megan Badenhorst: @acidsoup
Hannah Joy Morgan: @studiohannahjoy
Zoë Milner: @zoemilnerdesigns
For all exhibitions: @gradex_2022/ @stellenboschvisualarts
