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Art from the Anthropocene

How artists are responding to the Anthropocene - a geological age driven by humans.

Zoë Comyns goes in search of art from the Anthropocene. She meets artists who are all responding to this geological age driven by humans, the so-called Anthropocene, and our footprint on the planet.

Maria Cristina Finnuci’s installation in Rome consists of five million plastic bottle caps spelling out the word HELP across the landscape.

Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey from the UK create powerful reminders of our dependence on plants: they grow grass ‘photographs’ on gallery walls.

Justin Brice Guariglia from the USA has taken his study and interpretation of global warming to a personal level, tattooing his arms with graphs charting rising surface temperature and carbon levels.

Craig Santos Perez is a native Chamoru from Guam, and a poet, academic and environmentalist. His poetry highlights environmental degradation in the Pacific region.

Courtney Mattison from the USA was a marine biologist, and has taken her knowledge and applied it to recreating fragile ceramic coral reefs.

This is a sound rich journey through artworks that inspire curiosity, help us imagine a new way of living and through creativity help build a sustainable future.

A New Normal Culture production for BBC World Service
Producer: Zoë Comyns

Image: Maria Cristina Finucci's 'HELP the Ocean' installation in the Basilica Gulia in the Roman Forum (Courtesy of Maria Cristina Finucci)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sun 6 Jan 2019 23:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 5 Jan 2019 02:32GMT
  • Sat 5 Jan 2019 18:32GMT
  • Sun 6 Jan 2019 11:32GMT
  • Sun 6 Jan 2019 23:06GMT

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