Capitalism’s Anti-Natural Nature

Disclaimer: Inside my document there are graphic images, involving blood and dead animals.

Introduction:

My illustration “Stuck in the Mud” acts as a metaphor for the consequences of overconsumption and capitalism, and serves as a visual provocation to encourage the audience to take change against the current political system. Through the inspiration of many different artworks, the opinions of different authors, I have formed an anticapitalist argument to support systemic change and activism towards climate change.

My project:

Although I am coming from a science based background, through taking this class one of my goals was to improve my artistic skills. That being through technical means, as well as adding meaning to my art. Creating something that could send a powerful message, in relation to climate change and capitalism. My work is a drawing of three deceased giraffes, strawn around a dried up reservoir. They perished trying to get the last drop of water, but got stuck into the mud. I created this project with simple materials, colored pencils and paper. The way that the giraffes died is a comment on consumerism, as they drank from the water hole until it became dry, but died from getting stuck in the mud. This is to show us if we consume too heavily, consequences will follow and our natural world, as well as our daily lives, will suffer. My work speaks on climate change as it shows an immediate effect of global warming, heat waves and other disasters ravaging ecosystems and animals. When creating this artwork, portraying consumerism was a major goal, and to accomplish this I used the backstory of these giraffes. The overconsumption of the resource, and the following consequence of death is used to show the impact of commercialism and capitalism.

Reading Inspiration:

The website and the content that our group has created is meant to cause change, and invoke emotion into the audience. All of our projects come with a certain message. To find my message I had many sources that inspired me, and guided my thinking. First of all was Utopia & Contemporary Art^[1] by Gether, Christian, Stine Høholt, and Marie Laurberg. Immediately in this book, it is acknowledged that socialism could be the salvation of our society. Quoting Marcuse, “socialism, as a name for the new society, is inevitably a ‘rupture of history, the radical break, the leap into the realm of freedom - a total rupture.’” (70, Gether, Christian, Stine Høholt, and Marie Laurberg). This speaks on the systemic change that must occur for a utopia to take place, at least in Marcuse’s eyes. This reading allowed me to realize that capitalism is not a system that can continue if we are truly to move against climate change. Secondly this reading showed how art can be a major cause of change. Politics can be seen as an aesthetic, something that is based around care and humane values. Art can be a means to cause change and address major social issues. This inspired me to create an illustration with political and societal meaning. I was particularly struck by how art can show more than just representation and influence change and politics. Art and politics are not exclusive, art is a valuable way for starting meaningful transformation. Art has immense power in instigating change and social reform.

Rose Simpson gives hope of creative solutions to this problem in the book With Applied Creativity, We Can Heal.^[2] What stood out to me was the heavy themes of anti-capitalism and how we as a human race are to really face the problem of climate change. She spoke on the fact that capitalism has the constant need to expand and conquer. This destructive tendency of capitalism is a major reason for climate change. I appreciated the point of how indigenous people are known for how well they were able to work together with nature instead of against it. Capitalism is such a polar opposite to that lifestyle and it shows through the current state of the natural world. Creative thinking could be a solution to these climate problems, creativity is not confined to art, it can be applied to many other aspects of life and problem solving. Simpson states, “eagerly await the challenge and innovative freedom of being released from our capitalistic greed. When we don’t have screens telling us what we need to own, what we should look like, what we should eat, what do we do?” (314, Simpson). She speaks on the near collapse of our capitalistic system, and how this will be extremely freeing. Her optimism is extremely hopeful, and serves to show us that in times of hardship, we will prevail. I connect this to the philosophy of Rifkin and his ideas of resilience. Humans are adaptable creatures and will be able to survive. My problem with this is that waiting till this breaking point could lead to suffering of many, in especially unequal ways. Climate change affects groups in different ways, showing the intersectional nature of the current problem. Poverty, racism, and colonialism are all causes of this unequal nature of the effects of climate change. Capitalism works to accentuate this, and Simpson and I cannot wait for the downfall of this system.

Adding onto the crisis of climate change I explored the book The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Art, Visual Culture, and Climate Change.^[3] Finis Dunnaway speaks on how climate change is portrayed in the media. Specifically in a commercial featuring a young girl and an adult man, it portrays how the effects of climate change will be felt by the younger generation. The cliché imagery reinforces consumerism and suggests that the crisis is yet to arrive rather than current. However, we recognize that the crisis is here and is more complex than the commercial portrays. The crisis's intersectionality requires art that goes beyond depicting a distressed white child. Substantial systemic changes are necessary, and commercials emphasizing consumer actions work to stop genuine progress. The root issues extend beyond simple acts like changing light bulbs or driving electric cars. They stem from major corporations severely polluting the Earth and causing irreversible harm. These commercials try to minimize the actual consequences and challenges we face, allowing for the public to disregard the severity of our situation. Consumerist culture must be stopped as it works to benefit our capitalist system. It is no coincidence that the media portrays the crisis like this, as the major media producers are controlled by the affluent class. The affluent class needs capitalism to persist, so they can continue to reap the benefits of destroying our Earth. Systemic change is needed.

Like Simpson, Genderloos writes about the oncoming demise of our capitalist system in his book The solutions are already here: Strategies for ecological revolution from below.^[4] Genderlooos is extremely confident that the capitalist system cannot persist, and the fall of it will heavily benefit society. He is extremely optimistic of these effects, and he goes through the specific benefits and effects in different regions. More similarities between him and Simpson occur as he encourages the observation of the world around us. To look at the world as the actual ground beneath our feet, the organisms that sustain our lives, the machines and processes that affect the environment, and the food we eat. This grounding in the elements of daily life contrasts with abstract, greed focused approaches associated with capitalism. Consumerism at this rate is unsustainable, and the reading shows that to solve climate change and global warming our mindset must undergo major changes. We must care for each other and all the organisms that surround us.

Investigating Rifkin^[5]: Rifkin emphasizes the necessity of abandoning capitalism, asserting that as a society, we need to prioritize sustainability over efficiency. The relentless pursuit of efficiency and profit within capitalism is depleting the natural world. Rifkin advocates for societal resistance to this destructive idea, acknowledging that in the upcoming revolution, trade offs will happen. These are tradeoffs that humanity must endure and embrace in order to survive a new era focused on resilience. Rifkin calls for a more inclusive and sustainable approach to economic organization. While I agree that change will occur and the capitalist system will fall, Rifkin fails to care about the terrible effects that this will have towards underprivileged groups. As with any revolution, there will be harm and pain and this will be unevenly distributed. Measures must be put in place during the upheaval of our current system to care for the people and organisms it has condemned.

Art Inspiration:

Two of the artworks that inspired me were created by Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich. The first is titled: IQALUKPIK FOR MY FRIENDS.^[6]

When Erin explored her artworks in class I was very struck by the emotion that it invigorated from me, the colors and themes of death were extremely heavy in her work. Erin spoke on the death of these salmon, a resource extremely valuable to the indigenous people of Alaska, and her homeland. Capitalism and overconsumption is devastating local ecosystems, and climate change is severely changing these natural areas. People are being affected, and very unequally. Relating this to the reading Utopia & Contemporary Art, capitalism works to benefit the top five percent, and ravages the impoverished communities. Her work served to inspire me by using themes of death and blood to strike the audience with the artwork. This piece of artwork TUTTU (CARIBOU)^[7], speaks on themes of death. The interconnectedness between the animals shows the impact of climate change on our natural ecosystems. If one part of the food pyramid is affected, all parts suffer.

The artwork of Rose Simpson also was extremely inspiring to me. Her metaphor and depiction of consumerism and consumerist culture was very inspiring to the message of my own work. Her performance of Maria^[8] was extremely striking and a great metaphor. Simpson created this art to creatively take the culture of consumerism, art culture and western society and put a creative spin on it. This creates a hopeful vision, that from taking from cultures or objects that can create ecological harm, we can create something creative and beautiful. We can work to solve climate change in creative ways, even drawing ideas from things that we have already created and applying them. This mindset of creative change will be very beneficial to the human race in the future and Simpson successfully demonstrates this in her rendition of Maria.

The major imagery based inspiration for my project was a striking photo taken of many dead giraffes. This image hit me immediately as I glanced upon it, so I decided to illustrate my own rendition of this photo. It is a photo captured by Ed Ram titled, Giraffes Die of Thirst in Kenya.^[9] This piece of art is extremely graphic, six dead giraffes strewn around in the mud. The effects of climate change taking their lives. I tried to capture this in my art, focusing on the consumerist themes. I interpret that the giraffes over consumed the resource of water leading to their deaths. This overconsumption is a parallel to our own society. Capitalism enhances the idea of overconsumption, as this ideal benefits the capitalist system, while taking a toll on our ecosystems and population.

Diving into consumerist culture portrayed in art I explored this piece by the renowned artist Bansky titled Jesus Christ With Shopping Bags^[10]. By portraying Jesus as a consumer carrying shopping bags, Banksy is commenting on the commercialization of religion. It raises questions about how capitalism can exploit even the most sacred aspects of human life for profit. Capitalism has no morals, purely greed. Capitalism knows no bounds, and purely needs to expand to survive. Its consumerist nature will extract all of our resources, wreaking havoc on our natural system. This use of art as a political and social source of change is beneficial and shows how art can be a major source of development in our world.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, through the information from many readings and the inspiration from anti consumerist, anti capitalist art, capitalism as a system must be revolutionized and changed. Capitalism and consumerism is anti natural, and its effects are unevenly felt by the organisms around the world. Hope exists through socialism, creative solutions, and revolution.

1. Gether, Christian, Stine Høholt, and Marie Laurberg. Utopia & Contemporary Art. Ishøj: ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, 2012. ↑

2. Demos, T. J., Emily Eliza Scott, and Rose Simpson. “‘With Applied Creativity, We Can Heal.’” The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Art, Visual Culture, and Climate Change, 2021, 311–21. ↑

3. Demos, T. J., Emily Eliza Scott, and Subhankar Banerjee. The routledge companion to contemporary art, visual culture, and climate change. London: Routledge, 2023. ↑

4. Gelderloos, Peter. The solutions are already here: Strategies for ecological revolution from below. London: Pluto Press, 2022. ↑

5. Rifkin, Jeremy. The age of resilience: Reimagining existence on a Rewilding Earth. Swift Press, 2023. ↑

6. Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich. IQALUKPIK FOR MY FRIENDS. 2022. ↑

7. Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich. TUTTU (CARIBOU). 2018. ↑

8. Rose Simpson. Maria. April, 2014. Denver Art Museum Colorado. ↑

9. Ram, Ed. Giraffes Die of Thirst in Kenya. December 2021. ↑

10. Banksy. Jesus Christ With Shopping Bags. 2005. ↑