A collaborative publication tackling climate change through art, by UST Creative Writing faculty member Joel Toledo and artist Pancho Alvarez, was launched alongside an art exhibit at Studio Maya in Quezon City, on Oct. 19.
“Seasonal Adversities: An Ekphrasis on the Climate Crisis,” fuses 30 visual arts and 30 poems centered on the impact of the climate crisis on the human condition.
“The overarching theme of these paintings [is] the eye of the typhoon, and I think that makes the [climate crisis] very proximate in the very concept,” said Toledo in an interview with the Varsitarian.
Toledo, who has explored climate-related themes in his writing, said the role of poetry dwells on matters that speak to the humanities, which science cannot gauge.
“[W]hen you say climate crisis, it doesn’t necessarily mean eco-poetry. It factors in the humans who are suffering. Dito sa Pilipinas, marami [ang] naghihirap, for other reasons like corruption sa flood control, and those things make [the crisis] very proximate and very urgent,” he added.
Toledo described “Seasonal Adversities” as a “reverse ekphrastic process.” Ekphrasis traditionally uses words to describe visual art but in “Seasonal Adversities,” it was the opposite.
“‘Yong role siguro ng art, once you want to tackle a certain problem, you need to tackle it holistically. If it concerns the society as a whole, kailangan may certain kind of information or [a] certain kind of affinity or [a] certain kind of concern with the predicament at hand,” Alvarez told the Varsitarian.
While the ekphrasis itself was first conceptualized in 2022, Alvarez said a barrage of typhoons that battered the Philippines inspired them to pursue this climate-centered project.
Alvarez said they aim to reach policymakers and non-governmental organizations to transform the climate crisis message into tangible actions.
“With the way things are now, with the whole attention-grabbing things around us, it’s very hard to convince someone to an art form that this (climate crisis) is an important thing,” he said.
In 2023, “Seasonal Adversities” was accepted into Italy’s Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center residency program that brings together creators from diverse disciplines to develop collaborative solutions to the world’s urgent challenges.
The exhibition, featuring 34 artworks, ran for one day.
