An interdisciplinary water,
climate science and art
collaboration between
Artist Gennadiy Ivanov
Professor Trevor Davies
Professor John Pomeroy
Climate Art Influential in UN Declaration that 2025 shall be International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation.
The UN has just made this declaration after the case was initially championed by Professor John Pomeroy (Director of Global Water Futures, University of Saskatchewan and former NATO Science Fellow in the School of Environmental Sciences, UEA) who supported UNESCO and the WMO in advising the Government of Tajikistan to make the case to the UN General Assembly.
Art-Science presentations by the Transitions art-science project colleagues, Norwich artist Gennadiy Ivanov and Professors Trevor Davies (UEA) and John Pomeroy, played an important role: firstly, by presenting to Tajikistan Ministers during COP26 at Glasgow during the Transitions exhibition in the Blue Zone; and then during joint presentations with Tajikistan to COP27 in Egypt and to the UN General Assembly in New York.
This is the latest example of Transitions art and science working together to influence policy. This follows its significant role in Ottawa’s 2022 decision to establish a new Canada Water Agency and, in collaboration with the Climatic Research Unit CRU (Tim Osborn and Michael Taylor), producing a climate change mural for Norwich City Council. This was installed in the City Hall Council Chamber in November, commissioned to be a constant reminder to councillors of the importance of accounting for the climate change challenge in decision-making.
“I am proud that my art, produced in collaboration with climate scientists, is able to have an influence on policy” says Gennadiy Ivanov. “I have produced many paintings of glaciers and cold regions. It makes me sad when I portray the stresses that mountain glaciers are experiencing because of climate change, but my spirit is uplifted to know that my Transitions art can have an influence – in this case at the highest international level. Mountain glaciers represent a source of water which supports nearly a quarter of the world’s population and many global diversity hotspots.”
Trevor Davies commented “Gennadiy’s art continues to have a big impact. It’s the instantaneousness of the impact, which paves the way for scientific explanations. Many of his paintings of glaciers are stunning; they are informed by the latest science, and that initial impact is enhanced by explanations of how artist and scientists work together, and accessible descriptions of the science. The art very effectively communicates to a global audience the urgent need to control climate change so as to preserve the world’s remaining mountain glaciers”.
The UN has just made this declaration after the case was initially championed by Professor John Pomeroy (Director of Global Water Futures, University of Saskatchewan and former NATO Science Fellow in the School of Environmental Sciences, UEA) who supported UNESCO and the WMO in advising the Government of Tajikistan to make the case to the UN General Assembly.
Art-Science presentations by the Transitions art-science project colleagues, Norwich artist Gennadiy Ivanov and Professors Trevor Davies (UEA) and John Pomeroy, played an important role: firstly, by presenting to Tajikistan Ministers during COP26 at Glasgow during the Transitions exhibition in the Blue Zone; and then during joint presentations with Tajikistan to COP27 in Egypt and to the UN General Assembly in New York.
This is the latest example of Transitions art and science working together to influence policy. This follows its significant role in Ottawa’s 2022 decision to establish a new Canada Water Agency and, in collaboration with the Climatic Research Unit CRU (Tim Osborn and Michael Taylor), producing a climate change mural for Norwich City Council. This was installed in the City Hall Council Chamber in November, commissioned to be a constant reminder to councillors of the importance of accounting for the climate change challenge in decision-making.
“I am proud that my art, produced in collaboration with climate scientists, is able to have an influence on policy” says Gennadiy Ivanov. “I have produced many paintings of glaciers and cold regions. It makes me sad when I portray the stresses that mountain glaciers are experiencing because of climate change, but my spirit is uplifted to know that my Transitions art can have an influence – in this case at the highest international level. Mountain glaciers represent a source of water which supports nearly a quarter of the world’s population and many global diversity hotspots.”
Trevor Davies commented “Gennadiy’s art continues to have a big impact. It’s the instantaneousness of the impact, which paves the way for scientific explanations. Many of his paintings of glaciers are stunning; they are informed by the latest science, and that initial impact is enhanced by explanations of how artist and scientists work together, and accessible descriptions of the science. The art very effectively communicates to a global audience the urgent need to control climate change so as to preserve the world’s remaining mountain glaciers”.
Online exhibition catalogue https://issuu.com/nsag/docs/doc15
Norfolk Artist and Scientist Fuse Art and Science over Climate Change.
North Norfolk recently declared a climate emergency; quickly followed closely by the House of Commons. This is hot on the heels of the first phase of an exciting Norfolk project to increase public engagement by fusing art with the science of climate change.
Norfolk artist Gennadiy Ivanov and Trevor Davies, former Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Director of the Climatic Research Unit at UEA, have combined to represent aspects of climate change and its impacts in visual art in order to increase awareness in a wider section of people. They have just returned from Canada, a country which is amongst those most greatly affected by climate change.
Gennadiy Ivanov had already produced paintings related to sea-level rise and coastal erosion in Norfolk when he approached Professor Davies, who says “I was impressed by Gennadiy’s paintings. He interpreted and visualized coastal erosion in a way which I found striking, and I thought that his impressionistic images could have a wider impact”.
From Gennadiy Ivanov’s perspective, he knew that Norwich was a hot-bed of climate research and wanted advice on how best to develop his work in the climate change theme. “Professor Davies explained the principles of climate change and its impacts and convinced me that, together, we could produce a real fusion of science and art in this project. Everyone we spoke to in Norfolk was enthused by the project, including those who had experience of art in education as a means of getting over a story to those who might not otherwise be interested”.
The real breakthrough came when Professor Davies contacted a colleague in Canada, Professor John Pomeroy, who had spent time at UEA in the 1990s, and with whom co-operation had since continued. Professor Davies explained that “John is Director of a very effective and important research project in Canada called Global Water Futures (GWF). It is addressing the major climate change related events which Canada is experiencing: more severe floods, droughts, fires, recession of snow and ice-cover, and perma-frost melting. I felt that witnessing the impacts of these changes in landscapes which were very different to those in Norfolk could give scope Gennadiy to produce even more striking pictures”.
The two have just returned from a research trip in Canada in which Gennadiy Ivanov was able to join in GWF activities at a number of research sites in the Yukon, North West Territories, and the Rockies in Alberta. He says “I am very grateful for GWF support and feel enormously privileged to have witnessed the incredibly hard work put in by the scientists, involving sophisticated instrumentation in remote and difficult terrain. Sometimes the only way in was by helicopter or ski-plane. It made me realise the effort put in by scientists to understand and the effects of climate change and that sometimes it is necessary for them to use modes of transportation which emit global warming gases in order to better prepare us for the future”.
Gennadiy Ivanov was able to produce paintings in the field, of the research activities and landscapes which have been affected by climate change, which he is now using as a basis for his impressionistic images. Professor Trevor Davies said “Everyone who watched Gennadiy produce his paintings in the field was impressed by his speed of work, and by the way he was able to capture the important elements of what he was seeing”.
Amongst the scenes Gennadiy Ivanov witnessed were the outcomes of rapidly retreating glaciers, the effects of quick changes in lake-level, vegetation changes, the results of catastrophic floods, and forest fires. Even whilst the two were there, climate records were being broken in parts of Canada, including record floods in Ottawa and Montreal and record high temperatures in the North West Territories.
Art galleries and museums in Canada have invited exhibitions of the resulting art, combined with climate interpretations, and there is also an invitation to put on an exhibition in London. The pair plan exhibitions in Norfolk, with the hope of developing links with the Canadian galleries.
“I want to do justice, in my own terms, to the incredible landscapes which I saw in Canada, and the way in which they are being deeply affected by man-made global warming. I also want to use this experience to inform my future paintings representing environmental change in Norfolk, and link the changes in the gentler landscapes in our county to those in the more dramatic landscapes of Canada. I also want my art to be a tribute to the dedicated scientists whose work I saw”, said Gennadiy Ivanov.
Professor Davies remarked “I have no doubt that the exhibitions based on Gennadiy’s work will be successful. Many landscapes in Canada have changed dramatically since my first scientific visits there, and Gennadiy is able to represent this in an imaginative way. It was exciting to be part of this project to fuse art and science, and I look forward to adopting this approach to Norfolk. It was sobering to catch a quick snapshot of the nature of changes in large parts of Canada: perhaps the most sobering was to see the very large areas of landscape slumping resulting from the thawing of permafrost. It may have been this which prompted the Chief of the Gwich’in Indigenous Peoples to give his impression of the effect of climate change on his people: “It’s like watching a nuclear explosion in slow motion””.
North Norfolk recently declared a climate emergency; quickly followed closely by the House of Commons. This is hot on the heels of the first phase of an exciting Norfolk project to increase public engagement by fusing art with the science of climate change.
Norfolk artist Gennadiy Ivanov and Trevor Davies, former Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Director of the Climatic Research Unit at UEA, have combined to represent aspects of climate change and its impacts in visual art in order to increase awareness in a wider section of people. They have just returned from Canada, a country which is amongst those most greatly affected by climate change.
Gennadiy Ivanov had already produced paintings related to sea-level rise and coastal erosion in Norfolk when he approached Professor Davies, who says “I was impressed by Gennadiy’s paintings. He interpreted and visualized coastal erosion in a way which I found striking, and I thought that his impressionistic images could have a wider impact”.
From Gennadiy Ivanov’s perspective, he knew that Norwich was a hot-bed of climate research and wanted advice on how best to develop his work in the climate change theme. “Professor Davies explained the principles of climate change and its impacts and convinced me that, together, we could produce a real fusion of science and art in this project. Everyone we spoke to in Norfolk was enthused by the project, including those who had experience of art in education as a means of getting over a story to those who might not otherwise be interested”.
The real breakthrough came when Professor Davies contacted a colleague in Canada, Professor John Pomeroy, who had spent time at UEA in the 1990s, and with whom co-operation had since continued. Professor Davies explained that “John is Director of a very effective and important research project in Canada called Global Water Futures (GWF). It is addressing the major climate change related events which Canada is experiencing: more severe floods, droughts, fires, recession of snow and ice-cover, and perma-frost melting. I felt that witnessing the impacts of these changes in landscapes which were very different to those in Norfolk could give scope Gennadiy to produce even more striking pictures”.
The two have just returned from a research trip in Canada in which Gennadiy Ivanov was able to join in GWF activities at a number of research sites in the Yukon, North West Territories, and the Rockies in Alberta. He says “I am very grateful for GWF support and feel enormously privileged to have witnessed the incredibly hard work put in by the scientists, involving sophisticated instrumentation in remote and difficult terrain. Sometimes the only way in was by helicopter or ski-plane. It made me realise the effort put in by scientists to understand and the effects of climate change and that sometimes it is necessary for them to use modes of transportation which emit global warming gases in order to better prepare us for the future”.
Gennadiy Ivanov was able to produce paintings in the field, of the research activities and landscapes which have been affected by climate change, which he is now using as a basis for his impressionistic images. Professor Trevor Davies said “Everyone who watched Gennadiy produce his paintings in the field was impressed by his speed of work, and by the way he was able to capture the important elements of what he was seeing”.
Amongst the scenes Gennadiy Ivanov witnessed were the outcomes of rapidly retreating glaciers, the effects of quick changes in lake-level, vegetation changes, the results of catastrophic floods, and forest fires. Even whilst the two were there, climate records were being broken in parts of Canada, including record floods in Ottawa and Montreal and record high temperatures in the North West Territories.
Art galleries and museums in Canada have invited exhibitions of the resulting art, combined with climate interpretations, and there is also an invitation to put on an exhibition in London. The pair plan exhibitions in Norfolk, with the hope of developing links with the Canadian galleries.
“I want to do justice, in my own terms, to the incredible landscapes which I saw in Canada, and the way in which they are being deeply affected by man-made global warming. I also want to use this experience to inform my future paintings representing environmental change in Norfolk, and link the changes in the gentler landscapes in our county to those in the more dramatic landscapes of Canada. I also want my art to be a tribute to the dedicated scientists whose work I saw”, said Gennadiy Ivanov.
Professor Davies remarked “I have no doubt that the exhibitions based on Gennadiy’s work will be successful. Many landscapes in Canada have changed dramatically since my first scientific visits there, and Gennadiy is able to represent this in an imaginative way. It was exciting to be part of this project to fuse art and science, and I look forward to adopting this approach to Norfolk. It was sobering to catch a quick snapshot of the nature of changes in large parts of Canada: perhaps the most sobering was to see the very large areas of landscape slumping resulting from the thawing of permafrost. It may have been this which prompted the Chief of the Gwich’in Indigenous Peoples to give his impression of the effect of climate change on his people: “It’s like watching a nuclear explosion in slow motion””.
A Project by Gennadiy Ivanov
in inter-disciplinary collaboration with Professors Trevor Davies and John Pomeroy
A brief summary of your and partners’ recent experience in managing similar types of activity.
Neither Prof Davies nor Prof Pomeroy have been directly involved in art projects before. However, they have both been heavily-involved in public engagement. Prof Davies has been involved in many engagement events during his time as Director of the Climatic Research Unit, Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, Enterprise and Engagement, all at UEA; UK Natural Environment Research Council Member, and Director of the Fudan Tyndall Centre in Shanghai. Similarly, Prof Pomeroy’s roles as Canada Research Chair in Hydrology and Director of the Global Water Futures programme has public engagement at their cores. Both have extensive experience in managing large-scale international research programmes. Taken together with their research expertises in climate, hydrology, snow/ice dynamics and chemistry, and atmospheric processes, they will prove (indeed, already have) effective partners for this project. They are both seasoned expedition leaders.
Neither Prof Davies nor Prof Pomeroy have been directly involved in art projects before. However, they have both been heavily-involved in public engagement. Prof Davies has been involved in many engagement events during his time as Director of the Climatic Research Unit, Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, Enterprise and Engagement, all at UEA; UK Natural Environment Research Council Member, and Director of the Fudan Tyndall Centre in Shanghai. Similarly, Prof Pomeroy’s roles as Canada Research Chair in Hydrology and Director of the Global Water Futures programme has public engagement at their cores. Both have extensive experience in managing large-scale international research programmes. Taken together with their research expertises in climate, hydrology, snow/ice dynamics and chemistry, and atmospheric processes, they will prove (indeed, already have) effective partners for this project. They are both seasoned expedition leaders.
Despite the exhortations of climate scientists over decades, action on climate change has been delayed too long. In the words of David Attenborough, “the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of our natural world is on the horizon”. That prospect, scientists say, will be unstoppable if major actions, not before attempted, are not taken over the next few years. Whether they are, or not, will determine to what extent the Earth remains inhabitable. The proposed project aims to represent that challenge, stimulating awareness amongst new audiences, via a range of techniques, styles, performance and media. The artist will have unprecedented access to the work of climate scientists, initially in Canada and the UK, and the project will be shown and performed at a number of venues including in the UK and Canada. The linkages between, and dislocations in, those natural systems and societies most at risk will be articulated and shown to the artist by practicing climate scientists – a fusion of science and art. Because of the unprecedented access to a global network of climate scientists, there is a realizable prospect of the project growing and evolving for exhibitions/performances around the world.
Why is this activity important for your artistic development?
Just three months ago, the world’s climate scientists issued a stark warning – their starkest of many previous – that there are only 12 years remaining in which the take the necessary action to limit global warming to a level where the most catastrophic consequences can still be avoided. I believe this requires an unprecedented mobilization of all sectors of the community. Artists can play an important role in raising awareness and inspiring action. I would like to devote a significant part of my activity over the next years to this overwhelming threat and challenge to global well-being. I believe I have the appropriate techniques and skills to make a difference, especially when coupled with the expertise, experience and advice of scientists with a powerful background in climate science. It is so apposite that I am based in Norwich which is one of the global power houses in climate research. These connections will give me access to many aspects of climate research around the world. I want to be able to capture and represent subjects which give a strong sensory message about climate change, its threat and coping strategies. For that reason, I will be visiting a country where the impacts of climate change will be amongst the greatest: Canada. I will witness scientists work in forests, in snow- and ice-fields, in torrents, and sites of great drought. I will see, and talk to, communities which have been devastated by the extreme events nested in global warming. On a second trip, I hope to observe that iconic symbol of climate change: the polar bear as it waits (increasingly forlornly) for its millennia-old winter life-support platform of sea-ice to form.
I will learn how to meld such dramatic messages from another place to equally-dramatic, but less visual and consequential, in Norfolk. This will mirror the scientific connection. Prof Trevor Davies, who spent most of his career based at UEA, employed Prof John Pomeroy as a young post-doc. They worked together around the world, but especially in Canada. Prof Pomeroy is now Director of the Global Water Futures programme with 125 partner institutions throughout the world. Both are committed to continued collaboration with me, both for the first phases of this project and as it grows through future transitions – in scope and geographically.
Just three months ago, the world’s climate scientists issued a stark warning – their starkest of many previous – that there are only 12 years remaining in which the take the necessary action to limit global warming to a level where the most catastrophic consequences can still be avoided. I believe this requires an unprecedented mobilization of all sectors of the community. Artists can play an important role in raising awareness and inspiring action. I would like to devote a significant part of my activity over the next years to this overwhelming threat and challenge to global well-being. I believe I have the appropriate techniques and skills to make a difference, especially when coupled with the expertise, experience and advice of scientists with a powerful background in climate science. It is so apposite that I am based in Norwich which is one of the global power houses in climate research. These connections will give me access to many aspects of climate research around the world. I want to be able to capture and represent subjects which give a strong sensory message about climate change, its threat and coping strategies. For that reason, I will be visiting a country where the impacts of climate change will be amongst the greatest: Canada. I will witness scientists work in forests, in snow- and ice-fields, in torrents, and sites of great drought. I will see, and talk to, communities which have been devastated by the extreme events nested in global warming. On a second trip, I hope to observe that iconic symbol of climate change: the polar bear as it waits (increasingly forlornly) for its millennia-old winter life-support platform of sea-ice to form.
I will learn how to meld such dramatic messages from another place to equally-dramatic, but less visual and consequential, in Norfolk. This will mirror the scientific connection. Prof Trevor Davies, who spent most of his career based at UEA, employed Prof John Pomeroy as a young post-doc. They worked together around the world, but especially in Canada. Prof Pomeroy is now Director of the Global Water Futures programme with 125 partner institutions throughout the world. Both are committed to continued collaboration with me, both for the first phases of this project and as it grows through future transitions – in scope and geographically.