The Perfect Storm
In this project, we wanted to focus on climate anxiety through the metaphor of storms. Extreme weather events have increased in recent years and caused several problems, and a large part of it is due to global warming. We wanted to inform about these problems at the same time as we took into account mental health and did not worsen climate anxiety.
Student works
BA3 DESIGN: Department of Design | Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen
It’s not always easy to learn about climate change and the massive impact it has had and will continue to have on the world. Keeping yourself informed can feel mentally exhausting, not just because of all the scientific jargon used by most reputable sources, but because it’s not a nice feeling to know how much trouble we’re actually in.
Climate anxiety may be an important factor in why some people avoid news on climate change, but ignoring it will not make it go away. Storms are getting bigger and more devastating and the sea is warming up. We must stay informed about what is happening around us, what causes it and how we can contribute, but at the same time we must not forget about our mental health.
Theme & Research
We chose to focus on storm as a theme because it was something we all wanted to learn more about, and because it can be quite frightening to experience, and thus mentally challenging.
Together we research and gathered all the information we thought was important in a joint moodboard. We focused on all aspects of storms, such as how they occur, how they are affected by climate change, and what consequences they can have. It was important for us to point to credible and true sources.
Animated poster
For the exhibition we presented our project in three stages. You go through an emotional journey where you start at the Animated poster, feel the hopelessness and anxiety of climate change, then move to The Whirlpool of Anxiety where you write these feelings down and drop them in with other peoples thoughts on them, and finally you get to The Little Zine of Hope, where you get to take a little bit of hope home with you.
In this journey the poster was to serve as a starter, a call to action. We wanted the wievers to see the impact extreme weather can have and encurrage them to care and .
The Whirlpool of Anxiety
The Whirlpool was to be a place where you could write down all your thoughts and feelings about climate change, and drop them into an active whirlpool. When you saw all the other thoughts whirling around in there, our hope was that you wouldn’t feel alone in your fears about the future. When you get to see that other people care, it hopefully means other people want to do something about it too.
The Whirlpool was also meant to be a representation of how climate anxiety can feel like. It can be exhausting to have all these fears and worries swirling around in our heads, so we understand why some people find it best to avoid it instead of facing reality, but avoidance does not help the cause of our stress.
Unfortunately the mechanics of the whirlpool failed us at the last second, and we had to settle for a bowl. While this removed the feature of representing climate anxiety, it keept the feeling of community within our worries.
Little Zine of Hope
The Litte Zine of Hope is a little something to take home from the exhibition. We wanted to make something aesthetically pleasing so people would want to grab one, and wouldn't simply toss it once they got home and emptied their bags. A zine for keepsake.
When you open the zine you’re met with information on climate change and worsening storms, what's causing them, 5 things you can do to help, happy news concerning our climate, some vegan and soy-free recipes for both dinner and dessert, and lovely illustrations.
The zine was printed with risoprinter; a printer that uses soy-based ink and contains less volatile organic compounds than regular printer ink. It was meant to represent the happy and hopeful end in our exhibition, and hopefully make one feel less guilt and sadness for the world.
