By: Maya Barillas Mohan, Staff Writer
The words “climate change” often inspire a sweeping flood of anxiety, but the new Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition, Future Geographies, uses these words for education, contemplation, and hope. Spanning multiple floors, the gallery displays a variety of media to deliver ideas and information. On behalf of The Peak, I went on the opening weekend.
The goal of the exhibition is to “confront pressing questions about our shared future” through sculptures, photography, paintings, and other mixed media forms. The viewer can take their time through sections named “living knowledge,” “consumed earth,” “speculative worlds,” and “material memory.” Each section is spacious, giving visitors and artwork alike breathing room for in-depth reflection.
Two of my favourite pieces transformed common disposable objects into horrifying, captivating sculptures. Artist Brian Jungen’s whale skeleton (named Cetology) made of white plastic patio chairs looms forebodingly over Liz Larner’s Meerschaum Drift assembly. The large skeleton suspended from the ceiling reminds me of New York’s whale, but Cetology seems to specifically reference increasing plastic pollution. The whale is made of and surrounded by plastic; Jungen merges wildlife with the sheer excess of consumer convenience. As the viewer is guided around Larner’s floor display of painted plastic bottles arranged to look like crashing waves, it’s hard not to reevaluate our own contribution to single-use containers.
Rock formations shaped from discarded phones stand atop a literal island of computer cables in Huddled Masses. Artist Jean Shin mimics the shape of “scholar’s rocks” with discarded phones, collected via the electronics recycler Green Citizen. The sculpture draws attention to the deluge of e-waste that comes with modern life, and how technology has become fused with our environment. It was visceral, and almost nauseating, to gaze at these totems of waste. For a record, I snapped a photo. I realized then that my cracked blue phone could belong to an installation like this.
One exhibit that must definitely be experienced in person is LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Flint is Family photojournalism series. A collection of prints and accompanying passages depict the impact of contaminated water on marginalized communities, and then the miraculous solution of the atmospheric water generator. The photos were portrait-style, with sharp depictions of community members in their Sunday best. Part of what incited such a strong reaction for me was the tragedy at every level of this crisis, and the evocative way Frazier handled her descriptions. It’s sad, but at the same time, it’s hopeful.
Future Geographies accumulates work produced this century from around the world to conceptalize climate and resource issues as globally pressing. The viewer is reminded that everyone can do their part to reduce (Meerschaum Drift), reuse (Huddled Masses), and recycle (Cetology). Climate change is horrifying, but these art works have shown that there is hope of resisting it in multiple ways, both collectively and individually.
I believe it’s important to engage with these ideas as spectators to the interpretation of others, but also be aware of our own placements inside the climate crisis.
Future Geographies will be on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery until January 10, 2027.
