Final thoughts on 2023 – a crisis of faith: am I fooling myself to think I can move the meter?

I had the best intentions this year to write about my practice, and reflect on the sustainability of practicing sustainably, but I have been repeatedly rocked by a crisis of faith that has rendered me mute. 

When I read about the climate disaster, the scale of our addiction to plastic, our rampant consumerism, the global human conflicts that consume huge amounts of energy and resource, and our not-so-slow march towards a completely different planet, I feel small, and my actions feel smaller. I realise the irony of being an artist with this concern – my practice is producing more and more goods into the world.

What is the point of my saving a few litres of water, reusing a single sheet of steel, or choosing fewer petroleum based products?  I agree with many experts: big change must come from big organisations – businesses and government, entire populations. 

I suppose it is a combination of faith and hope that pushes me to consider the small role I play within the printmaking, and wider art ecosystem.  It is about survival.  I believe that one day, in order to survive, we shall all have to live differently, so my practice is about making a head start.  I don’t want print to fall into the categories of ‘unsustainable’ or ‘irrelevant’ when it has done so much for culture, creativity and communication. 

In preparation for a future where resources are necessarily more limited (and I count electricity, water and space as part of these resources), I am starting my own shift now, and hopefully encouraging others to do the same.  It isn’t a matter of artistic integrity, it is about artistic survival.

Navel gazing, for sure.  Maybe it is all a bit useless, but we can’t carry on, carrying on.  Bring on 2024, and maybe a little bit more pen to paper.