Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
Selected through an open call, six art initiatives from the Asia-Pacific region demonstrated how art can raise climate awareness, boost community participation, and encourage locally grounded climate action. In China, Lan Qixia created an eco-art trail of 12 installations made from mountain waste, involving youth and volunteers to prompt reflection on the relationship between waste and nature.
From the Republic of Korea, Yujin Joung presented Sun as a New Currency, a speculative fiction and world-building project centering marginalized voices, such as women and laborers. Hanna Park’s Decomposer exhibition used video and discarded materials to revive ecological awareness in Jeju.
Indian contributors included Sonali Verma and Pritish Bali’s Making the “Invisible” Visible, which used thermal imaging and women’s narratives to highlight the impact of extreme indoor heat on unpaid domestic workers, bringing gendered climate issues into public and policy discussions. Pubarun Basu’s Dhara project trained youth along the Ganga–Yamuna river system to document ecological changes and build local climate narratives. Tanmay Shah’s Borrowed Earth exhibition employed painting and photography to evoke personal connections to heat, water scarcity, and pollution.
A panel discussion following the presentations noted that while art may not provide direct solutions, it plays a vital role in making climate change perceptible, challenging fixed viewpoints, and creating spaces for reflection and engagement. The panel emphasized that scientific data alone may not convey individual and community experiences of environmental change, which art can communicate through emotional and sensory means.
These initiatives collectively show how artistic practices contribute to broadening climate discourse by emphasizing lived realities, inclusivity, and narrative sovereignty for frontline communities.