'Not just a problem of science': how the environmental crisis is also cultural

An interrogative exhibition at the New-York Historical Society examines the social, cultural and civil rights impact of development and devastation"I want people to understand that the environmental crisis is bound up inextricably in our cultural world and how we relate to each other," Dr Wendy N?lani E Ikemoto is discussing Nature, Crisis, Consequence, which she curated for the New-York Historical Society. The show juxtaposes classics of 19th-century American naturalism with works by artists from communities largely left out of the historical narratives that these works have been central in enshrining. "It's not just a problem of science and numbers, it is indivisible from the way we treat each other. How is the environmental crisis also a civil rights crisis?"Running through 16 July, Nature, Crisis, Consequence emerged from a request made of Ikemoto to create a show to feature the NYHS's 19th-century Hudson River School paintings. Among the Society's most popular holdings, the Hudson River school works show a romanticized, pastoral version of well-known landscapes upstate from New York City, now thoroughly marked by human development and activity. "They wanted them back on view because they're so popular," said Ikemoto, "but I didn't want to just put these paintings back on the wall." Continue reading...