22 Activity 5.4 – Toxic Heritage: How to Move Forward
Audrey Ricke
Associated Readings
- Chapter 18, Rosemary Joyce, Toxic and Wasted: Artists Thinking About How to Engage with Material Futures
- Possible Pairing: Chapter 2, Jonathan Gardner, “Of blaes and bings: the (non)toxic heritage of the West Lothian oil shale industry“
Targeted Skills:
Creativity, Reflection, Communication
Directions:
Identify a local toxic heritage site, material, or product or select one from this book. What art would you create as a marker of this local toxic heritage? What ideas do you have for converting toxic heritage into art? If possible, sketch up, draw, compose, record, or create a model of your design ideas. Share you work with your group, explaining the deeper meanings or significances you wish to convey through your designs and how did you represent these in your artwork as well as why these meanings/messages are important to you.
Optional next step:
Write or record an audio/video explaining why you designed it the way you did. Include in your explanation what deeper meanings or significances you wish to convey through your designs and how did you represent these in your artwork as well as why these meanings/messages are important to you. Share this work with others and ask for their feedback. Reflect on how you might use this feedback to adjust your designs.
Reflection/Discussion:
- How does trying to repurpose toxic materials or disturbed landscapes into art produce the “heritage” in toxic heritage?
- Is turning toxic materials or landscapes into art a “repurposing to move forward” or “a rebranding” that risks silencing or diminishing the problem or practice that originally produced the toxic landscape or materials? Include why you picked which side as well as evidence to support your position. Where does your own proposed art fit within this debate?
- What do you feel is the difference between “repurposing” and “rebranding that risks silencing”? [Consider the sections on Reclaiming Landscapes: Indigenous Arts and Art, Waste, and Heritage: Land Art and Industrial Landscapes in Chapter 18 as you reflect on your answers].
- What do you think might be the intended and unintended impacts of your proposed art? Consider the cultural, historical, and social context that your art will be placed within and the resulting possible perceived meanings as well as your own positionality and experiences that inspired it.
- How do art and written narratives operate at sites of toxic heritage? In what ways do their messages and impact intersect or diverge? Pick a site from this book or one that you are familiar with to focus on for the discussion. Use what was shared in the book and your own art to explore this question.
