Black Carbon

Description

Black Carbon

11 x 14 inch drawing created in 2022

Colored pencils, Pastels, Gauche and Watercolors on paper

“Black Carbon” features figures obscured in soot, dawdling on ice caps. The smoky colors of these figures sponge heat from the sun, contributing to the polar meltings. I arranged the bodies in a coil, encircling the environment to reference the development of a positive feedback cycle. The dark shades from pollution melt the high albedo ice. If ice liquefies, exposed soil and open water will drink in additional heat. Uncovered artic grounds lead to the thawing of permafrost, which releases catastrophic amounts of Methane and Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere, furthering this human-induced spiral.

I made the black carbon into figures to illustrate that the artic warming is not exclusively a crisis for the polar bears but also for us; rising waters, erratic weather, limited resources, mass migration, and extinction. Each figure mulls in isolation. We have not yet formed a community to solve issues as a global society.