Introduction to this special issue on "Art and Environment in Oceania"
Abstract
This special issue of Pacific Arts considers the role of artistic production in relation to climate change in Oceania. Anthropogenic environmental degradation has emerged as a key theme for many scholars within the Pacific Arts Association (PAA), and the proliferation of work on this topic comes as no surprise considering Oceania is on the “frontlines” of anthropogenic climate change as one of the world’s regions most threatened by rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and warming atmospheric temperatures. In the face of such ecological crises, artistic production and creative expression are a crucial means by which people in Oceania and its diaspora are fighting for climate justice. The present issue features the work of artists and visual studies scholars who address climate change and focuses on contemporary art and recent exhibitions that engage with environmental issues and their intersections with colonial histories, Indigenous sovereignty, and global capitalism.