Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery
This book chapter is part of an ongoing project to examine the images associated with climate change in order to understand and undo the psychic structures that hold back an adequate response to it. The work builds on long-term research in which I have developed tools for analysing public imagery fr...
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ftcreativearts:oai:kultur.ucreative.ac.uk:1491 2023-05-15T14:00:45+02:00 Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery Williamson, Judith Jerram, Sophie McKinnon, Dugal 2011 http://research.uca.ac.uk/1491/ http://www.dialogues.org.nz/2010/index.php?/06/judith-williamson/ unknown Now Future Williamson, Judith (2011) Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery. In: Dialogues with tomorrow. Now Future, Wellington, New Zealand, pp. 143-177. ISBN 9780473201852 Cultural Studies BF Psychology GE Environmental Sciences N Visual arts (General) For photography see TR Book Section PeerReviewed 2011 ftcreativearts 2022-03-03T23:22:14Z This book chapter is part of an ongoing project to examine the images associated with climate change in order to understand and undo the psychic structures that hold back an adequate response to it. The work builds on long-term research in which I have developed tools for analysing public imagery from a combination of semiotic, psychoanalytic and political perspectives. The wider project investigates how images of climate change affect our imaginations and behaviour. My thesis in this output is broadly that images of the Arctic and Antarctic, of polar bears and melting glaciers, while apparently drawing attention to climate change, function on a deeper level as a negation of it, since they mask the effects of warming on the rest of the globe, and operate as a form of imaginative denial about the changes taking place in populated areas. I employ Freudian notions of melancholy and repression to analyse the psychic structures that are fed by the predominantly frozen imagery. Both this chapter and the wider project address non-academic international audiences. The aim is to help shift public discourse about climate change on a range of fronts: the work offers activists a psychoanalytical perspective, and offers the academic and art worlds a political focus. The book chapter developed from a talk in a 2010 public series on climate change in New Zealand, available online; this led to further public talks and broadcasts, including a substantial interview on Radio New Zealand. Earlier developments of the research include a keynote public lecture at the 2008 Frieze Art Fair, which was made available on iTunes and has also reached a wide online audience. Book Part Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Climate change University for the Creative Arts: UCA Research Online Antarctic Arctic New Zealand |
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University for the Creative Arts: UCA Research Online |
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unknown |
topic |
Cultural Studies BF Psychology GE Environmental Sciences N Visual arts (General) For photography see TR |
spellingShingle |
Cultural Studies BF Psychology GE Environmental Sciences N Visual arts (General) For photography see TR Williamson, Judith Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery |
topic_facet |
Cultural Studies BF Psychology GE Environmental Sciences N Visual arts (General) For photography see TR |
description |
This book chapter is part of an ongoing project to examine the images associated with climate change in order to understand and undo the psychic structures that hold back an adequate response to it. The work builds on long-term research in which I have developed tools for analysing public imagery from a combination of semiotic, psychoanalytic and political perspectives. The wider project investigates how images of climate change affect our imaginations and behaviour. My thesis in this output is broadly that images of the Arctic and Antarctic, of polar bears and melting glaciers, while apparently drawing attention to climate change, function on a deeper level as a negation of it, since they mask the effects of warming on the rest of the globe, and operate as a form of imaginative denial about the changes taking place in populated areas. I employ Freudian notions of melancholy and repression to analyse the psychic structures that are fed by the predominantly frozen imagery. Both this chapter and the wider project address non-academic international audiences. The aim is to help shift public discourse about climate change on a range of fronts: the work offers activists a psychoanalytical perspective, and offers the academic and art worlds a political focus. The book chapter developed from a talk in a 2010 public series on climate change in New Zealand, available online; this led to further public talks and broadcasts, including a substantial interview on Radio New Zealand. Earlier developments of the research include a keynote public lecture at the 2008 Frieze Art Fair, which was made available on iTunes and has also reached a wide online audience. |
author2 |
Jerram, Sophie McKinnon, Dugal |
format |
Book Part |
author |
Williamson, Judith |
author_facet |
Williamson, Judith |
author_sort |
Williamson, Judith |
title |
Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery |
title_short |
Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery |
title_full |
Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery |
title_fullStr |
Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery |
title_full_unstemmed |
Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery |
title_sort |
unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery |
publisher |
Now Future |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://research.uca.ac.uk/1491/ http://www.dialogues.org.nz/2010/index.php?/06/judith-williamson/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic New Zealand |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Climate change |
op_relation |
Williamson, Judith (2011) Unfreezing the truth: knowledge and denial in climate change imagery. In: Dialogues with tomorrow. Now Future, Wellington, New Zealand, pp. 143-177. ISBN 9780473201852 |
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1766270086550650880 |