Join us for a short talk about our new Lob by Gallery exhibition by Liu Scholar and photographer Graham McDowell\, wit h opportunities to discuss the exhibition with Graham and other attendees. Hors d’oeuvres will be provided.
Please download the poster.
Wher e:
Liu Institute for Global Issues\, Lobby Gallery
6476 NW Marine Drive\, Vancouver\, BC Canada\, V6T 1Z2
Wh en:
September 12th\, 2016\, 5:00pm – 7:30pm
Photographs will hang from September 1st to November 30 th\, 2016
Exhibition Description:
High places––mountains and the Arctic––are home to some of the planet’ s most distinctive cultures\, unique ecosystems\, and compelling landscapes \; they are also among the most environmentally sensitive areas on the plan et. This sensitivity\, and its attendant social and ecological implications \, is a timely concern now that the planet has entered the Anthropocene\, a period when human activities are driving rapid\, global-scale changes in t he biosphere. However\, while scholarly work on the Anthropocene is of grow ing interest\, engagement with the topic to date has been primarily theoret ical.
In this exhibition\, environmental change researcher Graham McD owell draws together photographs from his work in high places (e.g. Greenla nd\, the Himalayas\, and the Canadian Arctic) to help ground-truth our unde rstanding of this new period in Earth’s history. His photographs reveal the multitude of ways in which places\, people\, and ecosystems in high mounta ins and the Arctic experience and respond to environmental change\, drawing attention to the tension between profound change and often underappreciate d occurrences of socio-ecological continuity. His exhibition aims to provok e more meaningful and productive discussions about how the Anthropocene int ersects with concerns related to sustainability\, social justice\, and huma n security\, within and beyond high places.
Photographer Bio:
Graham McDowell is an environmental change researcher work ing in high mountain and Arctic regions. His research is focused on vulnera bility\, adaptation\, and transformation with a particular emphasis on the development of governance strategies that promote human well-being and ecol ogical resilience in the context of a changing cryosphere. Graham has led p rojects in the Nepal Himalaya\, Rocky Mountains\, Greenland\, and the Canad ian Arctic as well as numerous global-scale assessments of environmental ch ange in cold regions. As a photographer\, he believes that compelling image s from the frontlines of environmental change provide a strong complement t o text-based communication approaches. He is also motivated by the challeng e of obtaining compelling images in demanding situations\, where factors su ch as cold\, altitude\, and cross-cultural differences require high levels of tact and resourcefulness in addition to photographic competence. He has been actively involved in the use of photography-based science communicatio n methods for several years\, with photos appearing in numerous popular and academic outlets including Vice\, CBC News\, and Nature Climate Change.
Graham is currently a PhD student\, Vanier Scholar\, Liu Scholar\, and Public Scholar at the University of British Columbia\, where he is affiliat ed with the Institute for Resources\, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) . Prior to beginning his doctoral studies\, he obtained an MSc in Environme ntal Change and Management at the University of Oxford and an Honours degre e in Geography at McGill University.
For more information about Graha m’s background and research please see: http://grahammcdowellresearch.com/
LOCATION:Lobby Gallery\, Liu Institute for Global Issues GEO:49.268776;-123.199987 URL;VALUE=URI:https://sppga.ubc.ca/events/event/lobby-gallery-exhibition-op ening-picturing-high-places-anthropocene-continuity-change-high-mountains-a rctic/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://sppga.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/01/Greenland.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 DTSTART:20160313T100000 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR