Balinese dancer wearing a gas mask: climate change and the tropical imaginary

ABSTRACT

Inspired by a street art image of a Balinese dancer wearing a gas mask, this paper maps climate change systems and their impacts on the Tropics. Beginning with global expanses of melting ice sheets, it rides the currents of oceanic and atmospheric systems, explores rainforests and coral reefs, wanders the seas of the Indonesian archipelago, until it comes to rest on the island of Bali. Complementing climate science with climate imagination, the paper draws on the classic elements and ecological images of thought to demonstrate tropical imaginary, jungle imaginary and archipelago imaginary as ways for perceiving the complexities of climate change. As it draws to a close, the paper pictures Slinat's street art images, musing on how their Balinese cultural-environmental messages resonate globally and act as a poignant reminder of how humans are implicated within climate change.

KEYWORDS:

• Bali island
• tropical imaginary
• climate change science
• street art culture
• archipelago imaginary
• climate change art

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 El Niño-Southern Oscillation is the collective name of El Niño warming and La Niña cooling systems. In August 2020 NOAA reported a change from an El Niño to a La Niña event over the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean https://www.climate.gov/enso

2 The conference brought together 10,000 scientists, politicians and bureaucrats from over 180 countries, as well as NGOs, environmental activists and media personnel (UNFCC, 2007).

3 The Balinese traditional rice terrace and subak irrigation system became UNESCO world-heritage listed in 2012. Rice terraces have been maintained since the ninth century by Hindu-Animist spiritual practices carried out at Water Temples and at each rice terrace. Spirituality affects all practices in Bali from art and dance to rice farming (Lansing, 1995).

4 The event was organised by TROPICA Bali Street Art Festival and the international ‘Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans’ ARTivism programme of PangeaSeed Foundation (Sea Walls, 2018).

5 In December 2018 a ban on single-use plastic bags was announced by the Governor of Bali. The ban came into effect in June 2019.

6 In September 2020 the Governor announced a new Bali province regulation regarding the use of clean energy, including a reduction in the use of fossil based energy and use of alternative energies such as solar, waterfalls, wind, geothermal, bioenergy and hydrogen. Specifics not yet disclosed at time of writing.