For my exhibit, I started with the idea of a scientific poster.  Theses are common at scientific conferences.  The are usually printed on paper and hung on walls or movable boards via push pins into cork board.  They are generally organized with a title at the top, then background information, notes about the experiment or calculation, results, a conclusion, and a list of sources. 

A core tenet of my exhibit is the notion that our ideas of who we are and what we can do are constrained by cultural and societal narratives that are often incomplete and inaccurate.  In order to address the climate crisis, we need to think differently.  We need to expand our idea of who we are and what we can do. We need to change the narrative of what is possible. For my “poster”, I deviated from the scientific norm in many ways.  In nearly every case, I made choices with the phrases “think differently” and “change the narrative” in mind.  

Materials and fabrication:

The “poster” consists of two cloth panels.  One contains text in a 3 x 4 foot area; the other is smaller with text in a 16 x 24 inch area.

I chose to use latex printing on artist’s canvas.  Honestly, I was excited at the idea of printing on cloth, something I’d never been able to do before. I quickly realized that cloth would also give me the possibility of reusing the materials.  I plan to turn the poster and answers/sources panels into a quilt after the exhibit.  It is for this reason that the panels are not trimmed and hemmed, but rather the excess cloth has been folded behind and tacked in place.

The stitching of loops for the dowel rods took a great deal of time and included a learning curve.  In the end, it was meditative, if somewhat tiring for a person not used to sewing.  I consider the efforts (and imperfect results) a part of my attempts to think and do things differently.  I also learned that canvas creases easily and it’s hard to get those wrinkles back out.  Again though, part of the learning process that happens anytime one tries something new, something different.  We will all have a lot of learning to do in order to address the climate crisis.  Imperfections and mistakes will be part of that process.

Each panel has a dowel rod at the top and bottom.  The top dowels sit in wrought iron hooks.  I chose to use hand forged hooks for several reasons.  One is that I wanted to support the work of individual artisans instead of mass manufacturing.  I don’t want to romanticise the work and life of artisans, but again, rethinking how we live is crucial and with a handmade item there is a stronger connection to the people who made it for you.  (Specifically, the large leaf hooks are by  John Boyd at Stone Hill Forge and the smaller twist hooks are by Jen Lipski at JenLipski.com.)

Content:

The content and layout also deviates from a typical scientific poster. I start with questions about  Émilie du Châtelet and and image of her.  The questions are not laid out in a left-justified format, but rather wander to the left and right. Interspersed are circles and ovals with text related to advertisements, stories, and observations about how people are seeing the climate crisis today, in France and Germany.  This layout intentionally breaks up the usual linear, left-justified, top to bottom layout of a scientific poster. The primary topic of this section (Émilie du Châtelet) is interrupted by the text about the climate crisis.

The image of du Châtelet is from a well-known painting by de La Tour.  I ran the image through an online “photo to sketch” converter and then adjusted the borders slightly.  A typical plot or diagram in a scientific paper is often a very labor intensive product; to do something relatively simple, but hopefully effective, was new for me.

Finally, mid-panel, I change directions and segue to the climate crisis. This section too has a main topic that is addresses in short paragraphs of black type that wander a bit to the left and right.  And, interspersed, are more circles and ovals with text as before, and now some rectangular shapes with text posing questions to the reader about changes we might make to address the climate crisis.  Again in this lower half of the panel, different types of information are intermingled, with shape and background connecting similar text.

Lagniappe:

For those that love a puzzle or challenge, there are (at least) two typos in the main poster/panel.  One is in the wording, the other concerns spacing.  Can you find them?