Sustainability art show aims to connect students to climate causes

For UB students, sustainability is interwoven into every aspect of campus life — from ROT (recycling, organics and trash) stations in the dining halls, to the solar energy that powers their classrooms — but UB Sustainability wants to make its impact even more visible.

To mark the beginning of Sustainability Month, the office is hosting “Rooted in Resilience,” its first show in collaboration with the Department of Art, featuring environmentally focused pieces in various media. The exhibit is on view through April 9 in the Center for the Arts Project Space, Room 155. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“Sustainability is not a technical thing. It’s not an art thing. It’s not a legal piece or a chemical piece. It’s something that goes across the entire breadth and depth of the university,” says Ryan McPherson, chief sustainability officer.

Resiliency is one of the three Climate Action Plan integrators that are incorporated in UB Sustainability’s Climate Action Plan. “The art show title, ‘Rooted in Resilience,’ is intended to encourage our university community to use art to explore alternative futures in the face of climate change and build more hope, rather than succumbing to the doom and gloom surrounding this topic,” says Genevieve Fontana, UB Sustainability’s communications and outreach student assistant and organizer of the event.

Fontana credits the idea for “Rooted in Resilience” to Alissa Ujie Diamond, assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Architecture and Planning, whose Climate Justice and Resilience course leveraged art as a means of processing climate anxiety. A collage from the class, made in part by Fontana, is on display in the show. “She was one of the first professors that I ever had who encouraged us to use creativity to break down these huge concepts,” Fontana says of Diamond.

To Olivia McCarthy, sustainability operations coordinator whose own work is also on display in the show, art has always been an outlet for catharsis, exploration and reflection, which she says are essential to finding pathways for healing, especially in the midst of the climate crisis.

“Spreading awareness is a big part of how art and climate work can connect,” McCarthy explains. “There is also the element of how we as individuals and communities acknowledge climate anxieties to find the strength and conviction to continue the hard work of making change.”

UB Sustainability’s goal for “Rooted in Resilience” was not just to engage students, but also staff, faculty and even alumni in creating collective work that represents the shared responsibility of climate goals.

“Young people are not in this alone, but other generations need their strong minds, creativity and determination to help move the needle forward,” McCarthy says. “UB is invested in developing the next generation of change agents, and that’s not exclusive to certain majors.

“In fact,” she notes, “it requires multidisciplinary perspectives. When students from different academic backgrounds come together, there is an exciting momentum that creates ripples and inspires others to get involved in climate action.”

Fontana explains the show was not restricted to those with artistic ability and experience. “I want to build a community around our initiatives to care for our campus community and beyond, which this art show aligns with,” she says.

Whitney Kehl Chamberlain, art resource manager in the Department of Art, adds that organizing shows across the university “furthers our goal of engaging these gallery spaces, turning them into creative conversation zones with people from other research areas and intellectual backgrounds.” Chamberlain says she was excited to be approached by UB Sustainability to organize a show and invites other departments to partner with current art students and instructors — the only caveat to using Department of Art galleries — to highlight their interdisciplinary work.

MFA student Deirdre Harder used the show as an opportunity to explore her feelings about the marks we leave behind. Harder’s found art piece, a salvaged car hood titled “When I Took This Out of the Creek, a Frog Hopped Out,” hangs on the wall of CFA 155.

“I think it is really interesting and worth contemplating that, when we leave something behind, nature still won’t forget about it,” Harder says. “Animals will move in, new species will still use, like our trash, as shelter and as habitat. It’s up to us to be really conscious of all of the ways that we impact a place, and even if it is providing shelter for something, if it ultimately is going to hurt that thing.”

As a kickoff event for Sustainability Month, McCarthy says “Rooted in Resilience” plays a key role in building campuswide engagement by bringing together students, staff, faculty and alumni artists, underscoring the idea that meaningful climate action is collaborative.

Adds Fontana: “Positioned alongside programming that addresses climate justice, environmental equity and community resilience, ‘Rooted in Resilience’ highlights how art can complement research and policy by fostering reflection, dialogue and a shared sense of responsibility, an essential component of UB’s broader climate and sustainability mission.”