Erica Daborn recently completed a ten-year project, “Dialogues with Mother Earth,” an interactive installation that provokes reflection on the relationship between our 21st century societal values and the ways in which they have contributed to the degradation of our environment. The project directs the audience's response to climate issues through a comparison of ancient and modern information technologies. Central to the production is a series of ten mural-sized narrative drawings in charcoal that record fictitious historical events related to climate change and appear to have been drawn directly on the walls.
The murals explore, in a non-alarmist, story-book manner, those aspects of contemporary living that have impacted the environment including consumerism, depletion of natural resources, the ravages of the meat industry, disposable plastics, etc. Because the project is experiential (as opposed to an Al Gore-style lecture) it aims to reach beyond the converted to a broader audience including one that has been resistant to the subject. It also offers a teaching tool for schools and colleges. The intention is to encourage people who have not thought much about theses issues to recognize, to take action, and to prepare for the global crisis that is looming.
The first showing of all ten murals is on exhibition at the International Museum of Art and Science in McAllen, Texas from July 2019-January 2020.
