Art met science today, as a new mural was unveiled in Norwich City Hall’s council chamber.
The mural, titled ‘A Climate Mural For Our Times’ celebrates the 50th anniversary of the University of East Anglia’s (UEA’s) Climatic Research Unit (CRU). It spans 10m across the council chamber and is comprised of 6 canvases, depicting a record of our changing climate, from 66 million years ago into two of our possible climate futures.
Professor Tim Osborn, CRU director, described the process as a “rich and deep collaboration between Gennadiy (the artist) and the climate scientists at UEA”.
The mural has been over 4 years in the making. The artist, Gennadiy Ivanov, was inspired by witnessing our changing climate first hand, during visits to Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast over the years. Gennadiy first visited Happisburgh about 18 years ago. On returning several years later he was shocked to see how much land had been destroyed and how many people had lost their houses. He described working on the project as “incredible and emotional”. Gennadiy thinks that art is one of the best ways to communicate with people; “science in general is not very emotional”, and hopes that his mural will help people to “understand the depth of this problem.”
Labour MP Clive Lewis agrees. “I think that art is a fantastic way of expressing sometimes quite complex and emotional issues, which the climate crisis definitely is.” Mr Lewis described the mural as “a statement about the City Council’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis,” and says it brings together “the creative, the democratic, the educational.”
UEA’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Richardson, said the artist had done a “magnificent job” and is “really proud of all the colleagues at UEA who have been part of it.” As a collaboration between world-leading scientists and a visionary artist, Prof Richardson believes “it typifies exactly what the university stands for, because it brings together the arts with the sciences.”
Professor Tim Osborn hopes that it will act as “a visual cue to remind them (decision makers, policy makers and councillors) that climate change needs to be taken into account in nearly everything we do.”
Zoë Johnson 