Art and the Environment in Southeast Asia: Making in a Changing World

Explore how art shapes environmental understanding in Southeast Asia

Artists in Southeast Asia are responding to urgent environmental and social shifts with innovative approaches that connect place, material, and community. This course offers a thematic journey into the ways contemporary art practices illuminate and address ecological challenges.

You’ll discover how artists use creativity to spark conversations about sustainability, environmental justice, and our relationship with the natural world - exploring work that’s both beautiful and deeply meaningful.

Creative responses to environmental change and community

Discover how artists navigate the complex relationships between nature, urbanisation, and communities. You’ll see how art fosters dialogue around sustainability and resilience through diverse media and methods, from traditional craft to cutting-edge installations.

Materiality and ecological practice: telling environmental stories

Learn how artists select and repurpose materials to tell stories of environmental transformation and human impact. You’ll explore how they blend traditional craft with contemporary concerns, creating work that speaks to both cultural heritage and pressing ecological issues.

Art, society, and ecological realities in Southeast Asia

Explore case studies that show how artistic practices engage with the socio-political and cultural dimensions of environmental change. You’ll see how art encourages reflection and collective action, bridging communities and sparking conversations about our shared environmental future.

Throughout the course, you’ll gain insight into the vibrant contemporary art scene in Southeast Asia and understand how creative practices can shape the way we think about and respond to environmental challenges.

This course is ideal for art enthusiasts, environmental scholars, cultural researchers, and anyone eager to understand the intersection of art and environmental issues in Southeast Asia and beyond.

This course is ideal for art enthusiasts, environmental scholars, cultural researchers, and anyone eager to understand the intersection of art and environmental issues in Southeast Asia and beyond.

• Gain a deeper understanding of how contemporary Southeast Asian artists engage with socio-environmental issues around them.
• Develop skills to critically analyse artworks within their cultural and ecological contexts.
• Encounter art and ways of thinking from Southeast Asia.
• Apply vocabulary and visual analysis strategies to form an interpretation of artworks.