No Harvesters

No Harvesters is inspired by Pieter Bruegel’s commissioned series of landscape paintings. This painting depicts the role our climate crisis plays in migration. In a vicious cycle, global-northern countries, whose high emissions drive the climate crisis, rebuke global-southern refugees fleeing the resulting devastation. ”

For example, in some areas of Central America, climate-change-induced drought destroys the agricultural livelihoods of people who are then forced to relocate to overcrowded cities. This places a strain on resources and fosters violence, compelling some to flee to the U.S. in desperation. But at the U.S. border, migrants find not a welcome but a wall. The barricade is a physical manifestation of a nation’s cognitive dissonance—a refusal to acknowledge and atone for the harms that U.S. policies and practices have imposed on those who are turned away. Our lack of effective climate solutions perpetuates inequalities and erodes social and political welfare, carving its deepest wounds into marginalized communities, countries, and people.

Jenny Blazing

“My art is inspired by the multitude of social justice movements that recognize climate change as a major barrier to racial and economic equity in the U.S. and abroad.” Jenny Blazing

It is a testament to the severity of climate change that in recent years, the impacts of this crisis have shifted from looming hypothetical to stark reality. Blazing, a California native who moved to North Carolina in the 1990s, has watched with horror over the past decade as family and friends in her home state face the intensifying effects of climate change. Severe drought has fueled wildfires that claimed a family home and generated severe air pollution, exacerbating health issues. Her art is inspired by her family’s experiences, but even more so by those who are disproportionately impacted because they lack protections such as insurance, health care, or homes that help insulate them from toxic air.

Blazing’s AnthropoceneScape paintings fuse past, present, and future eras into imaginary worlds to emphasize our inevitable and potentially irreversible effect on the planet and its most vulnerable inhabitants. At first glance, these paintings resemble captivating cityscapes perhaps gone a bit awry. But these atypical vistas contain a message that begins to reveal itself upon closer examination. There is an aspect of urgency to these worlds. Debris and crumbling elements resembling ruins from antiquity are interspersed with gleaming, modern imagery all condensed into a single work as if they are “time-lapse paintings.” The skies are infused with dripping and texture that suggest that weather no longer exists in its predictable form. What does all of this mean? Who will be swept up in the storm? Can we continue to accelerate our consumption of our planet’s resources while ignoring the disproportionate costs?

Blazing’s story has been featured in Artists and Climate Change, an online platform and network amplifying the work of artists who engage with the climate crisis.

Based on our agreement with the artist, 15% of the pre-VAT price excluding frames will be donated to support the Earth Island Institute.