The project “The Right to Be Cold” is looking at the climate crisis from a perspective that has so far received less attention: What does global warming mean for the people who have lived in the far north for many generations?
Shunyo Raja, Kings of a Bereft Land
The consequences of climate change vary worldwide. In the photo gallery of this issue we show insights of the Indian photographer Arko Datto (* 1986). In his project “Shunyo Raja. Kings of a Bereft Land”, he documents the environmental changes that people in Ganges delta are exposed. In this delta, which is repeatedly affected by floods and the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forests in the world, are the most important Earth. At present, three quarters of the delta is at risk as a result of climate change. Datto’s Project was supported by the Goethe-Institut and the Prince Claus Fund and is shown within the multimedia online presentation “Take Me to the River”: takemetotheriver.net
-
Shunyo Raja, Kings of a Bereft Land
Behind the new dam is the ruin of a village school. Cranes in the distance stand on the building site for a power station. Matarbari, Bangladesh. 2020. -
Shunyo Raja, Kings of a Bereft Land
A woman washes her laundry. Her house was destroyed when a protective dam broke. Sagar Island, India. 2019. -
Shunyo Raja, Kings of a Bereft Land
The tidal currents reach as far as the northern Sundarbans, Dozens of miles from the coast. Here locals cross the river Datta at low tide. Sadhupur, India. 2019. -
Shunyo Raja, Kings of a Bereft Land
After the hurricane: In the foreground the ruins of a cemetery, behind it the remains of a shelter. Matarbari, Bangladesh. 2020. -
Shunyo Raja, Kings of a Bereft Land
After Hurricane Bulbul left a trail of destruction in the South Bengal region of destruction, a resident repairs an electrical line. Bakkhali, India. 2019.
Five Sentences Art: Kora-Llysis
“Coral reefs are particularly threatened by the consequences of climate change worldwide. By combining art, science and technology, we are raising awareness of the precarious situation of these ecosystems and developing new strategies for their restoration. Our objects consist of movable ceramic structures that are able to generate electricity with the help of ocean currents. As a result of electrolytic processes, magnesium and calcium minerals are deposited on these structures, enabling us to accelerate the growth of corals. The installation is intended to be used wherever there are reefs and to raise public awareness of these important ecosystems”.
The Mexican artist Gilberto Esparza was born in 1975 and lives in Mexico City. His works include in particular robot-like structures that generate their energy independently. He is always concerned with addressing the issue of sustainability. He works closely together with natural scientists and engineers in the implementation process. Esparza's project was supported by the Goethe-Institut and the Prince Claus Fund and is shown in the multimedia online presentation “Take Me to the River”: takemetotheriver.net
Video statements
How can the arts inspire and motivate us to meet the challenges of climate change?
We asked artists whose works where supported by the Goethe-Institut and Prince Claus Fund and which are shown within the multimedia online presentation “Take Me to the River” (starting 15 December 2020).
Entire issue
The tenth issue of “das Goethe” focuses on the particularly serious effects of climate change in the Arctic region. With the project “The Right to Be Cold”, we are looking at the climate crisis from a perspective that has so far received less attention: What does global warming mean for the people who have lived in the far north for many generations?
Read the current issue of das goethe as a pdf:
The title of the project “The Right to Be Cold” is derived from the long struggle of the Inuit for their rights in times of climate change. In her book of the same name (2015), Sheila Watt-Cloutier describes the link between climate change and human rights in a petition that she and 62 other Inuit from Canada and Alaska submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2005. Although the Commission did not accept the petition, there was a historic hearing on the legal implications of climate change for human rights. In her speech at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris on 3 December 2015, the former Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), Okalik Eegeesiak, called for climate change to be made a human rights issue and for the rights of indigenous peoples to be enshrined in the agreement. In her speech she said: "We have the right to be cold.
Communications Division
oeffentlichkeitsarbeit@goethe.de
Goethe-Institut e.V.
Oskar-von-Miller-Ring 18
D-80333 Munich
