Allison Barnes

Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours)

In these works I am exploring climate change and the possibility of hope. I have done this by translating the 1982 science fiction novel, 'The Making of a Representative for Planet 8' by Doris Lessing. This poetic, archival novel provided a framework to think about climate catastrophe, despite its imminence, without losing sight of hope. I also investigated the use of manufactured waste materials to make relief prints which I combined with screen printing to create abstracted visual works. I have sought to create a moment for thought by integrating the phrases, which speak of the direct experience of climate catastrophe, within the design of the image and applying the paint so that it is not instantly readable but is revealed with the movement of the viewer. The combination of text and non-representational imagery demonstrates how abstraction can be thought of in new ways to reflect complex social and environmental problems.