Halley’s Sky News: alienation, law & the environment

This work, using recycled part-completed tapestries from a disability service, traces the alienating effects of capitalism that begins with  Indigenous connection in a quote by academic Mary Graham: ‘I am located therefore I am.’  Successive panels track this increasing alienation through core world events that includes and extends Hannah Arendt’s discussion on this theme. The tapestry further connected to corresponding laws and actions that have determined relationships with the environment, both protective and destructive. It is part of a series that includes Halley’s Sky News: economics, advertising & psychology and Birds watch New Kingdom nobles pass Self-Service Wells Act at the Nile Basin Authority. The tapestry is featured in the Arts & Climate Mosaic, Americans for the Arts, Arts Link Fall/Winter 2022 Special Edition: Arts & Climate Change.

Work’s teletext script: Mary Graham: “I am located therefore I am.” AD Christian concern for eternal soul529 Justinian’s Civil Code1066 Hailey’s Comet … 1419 Age of Exploration … 1517 Socage abolition … 1589 Age of Modern science … 1662 Dutch guilds use letters patent … 1788 Terra & Aqua Nullius … 1885 British separate land surface & minerals ownership … 1886 Corporations gain legal personhood … 1897 Mono-agriculture as genocide … 1910 Halley’s Comet … 1920s Supermarkets shame backyard growers … 1955 Disney’s fantasy industrial complex … 1960s World Bank’s non-traditional crop slave labour … 1975 Prime Minister sacked with letters patent … 1970s Private land geo-exploration licences … 1983 Monsanto, food irradiation, GMO patents & fertilisers … 1986 Franklin Dam halted … Halley’s Comet … 2004 Harrison’s eco-art plans from watershed futures … 2006 Colony collapse disorder … 2011 Ecuadorian river gains legal personhood … Naples Water Corporation recommoned … 2015 Australia leads deforestation … 2018 Manuka honey appellation … If corporations are people, owning them is slavery