Redrawing ecology : dark ecological thought in art-design practice

Abstract

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis follows my practice based research process as a visual communication designer concerned with visualising deep ecological thought. Throughout this thesis, I apply Timothy Morton’s dark ecology theory that argues that an awareness of negativity and tragic melancholy is necessary in order to understand our current ecological climate. This mood is integral to closing the gap between internal human involvement and the supposed external environment. The first section Animism - from deep roots to dark loops is devoted to a theoretical unpacking of animism as a dark contested theory in relation to the darkness of our present ecology in crisis. In the second section, Aesthetic animism, I discuss my own creative practice as an expression of ecological thought supported by an animist mode of perceiving. Animism is unpacked as an outsider philosophy joins forces with working with waste matter in my art-design practice, more specifically the excrement of the ocean. This text incorporates a synergy between knowledge and visuality, text and designed objects as a means of practicing ecological literacy. In order to aid the ecology in crisis this text argues for a renewed, modest, prophetic kinship with our environment, that extends a hand towards non-human agents including the earth within a practice based research process in the realm of visual arts.

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