Coupling Art and Science to Communicate the Importance of Coastal Blue Carbon: the ABC Network
By Rosalie Wright
The Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab explores new ways to create engagement with blue carbon science through several art-science partnerships and interactive outreach activities.
The Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab has been introducing new audiences to the conversation around blue carbon research and climate policies. By participating in a series of exciting outreach events - from family festivals to high-level discussions at annual international climate negotiations - we have shown how ’blue carbon’ habitats could be critical for helping us to restore nature and achieve net-zero carbon emission targets.
We participated in the Art, Biodiversity, and Climate (ABC) Network to consider new perspectives on blue carbon habitats, such as mangroves, saltmarsh and seagrass, and creative ways to communicate their importance. We partnered with Oxfordshire-based artist Jenny Lines to co-create a series of pieces that demonstrate the value and importance of blue carbon science. This opportunity helped us to share our scientific research and wider applications with audiences far beyond the academic community.
The Art, Science and Blue carbon team (L-R: Rosalie Wright, Jenny Lines, Sophie Taylor, Dr Lisa Wedding)
The team explored personal connections between people and place for three key blue carbon habitats, seagrass, saltmarsh and mangroves. We then considered how to express these critical coastal relationships, as well as the global importance of blue carbon habitats, with audiences that may have never heard the phrase ‘blue carbon’ or be unfamiliar with coastal regions. To find out more about our art-science project and related events with the Art, Biodiversity, and Climate Network, follow the link here.
‘Seeding Seagrass’ by Jenny Lines
To share this work more widely, we also participated in the ABC Network exhibition in Paris, at Le 6b Gallery, where Jenny Lines’ blue carbon artwork and our accompanying project video were viewed by almost 400 in-person visitors over two weeks. The gallery is freely accessible and described as a “multidisciplinary and multi-purpose cultural space” that is run by a diverse community of creatives in the industrial district of Saint-Denis.
Jenny Line’s seagrass prints at the Pitt Rivers Museum
These art-science events have enabled our lab to reach new audiences through both in-person and online activities that have targeted varying age groups. One such event was the Festival of Social Science, which took place at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Members of the lab and artist Jenny Lines ran arts & crafts activities for the families visiting and enjoyed discussing blue carbon science with the attendees, providing an informal education experience.
Seagrass scenes created by attendees of the Festival of Science, Pitt Rivers Museum
We then participated in the “COP26 Creative Climate Conversations with Artists and Scientists” event at the Oxford Museum of Natural History. This evening event successfully drew an audience of 104 to participate in dialogues with both artists and scientists from the ABC Network. These events have each provided exciting opportunities to facilitate discussions about the breadth, beauty and importance of blue carbon habitats found throughout the UK.
The Oxford Seascape Ecology lab were subsequently invited to participate in last year’s COP26 event, where our blue carbon animation “Safeguarding Our Coastlines and Our Climate” was a popular feature in the Virtual Ocean Pavilion. This event received over 3000+ registrations from members of the public, decision-makers, scientists and ocean advocates all around the world. Read more in this webstory.
Building on the 2021 outreach efforts, we are continuing participation in a number of art-science programs and further activities for engaging diverse audiences in blue carbon science. For example, we have since participated in the “Kurt Jackson: Biodiversity” exhibition at the Oxford University Natural History Museum, where our research featured alongside artworks by British artist and environmentalist, Kurt Jackson. The exhibition received almost 200,000 in-person visitors over three months and 9,500 online visits. For more on this work, see our Biodiversity webstory here.
Kurt Jackson: Biodiversity at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History