On the 25 October 2025, a Climate Conversations session convened at Thelma Hulbert Gallery, gathering artists, academics, and autonomous activists together to explore how creative practice can respond to the climate crisis. These conversations are part of a series of regional climate initiatives responding to East Devon District Council’s commitment to Devon’s Climate Change Emergency declaration, signed by 134 organisations and town councils across the county. It also responds to the University of Exeter’s May 2019 declaration of a climate and environment emergency, made after the UK Parliament became the first in the world to do so. Since then, at least 38 nations have declared the same state of emergency.

This session was facilitated by Mark Leahy, co-director of the Contemporary Artists Membership Platform (CAMP), who invited CAMP artists Dana Aala and Sara Bor to discuss how their practices engage with the climate emergency through their choice of materials, processes, and storytelling. Their conversation reflected on the responsibilities and pressures facing artists who wish to work sustainably, how they make work in the context of the climate emergency, and the impact of climate breakdown on communities and individuals.

Dana Aala, a Plymouth-based multimedia artist, described to us the precarity of working with mediums which involve toxic inks, solvents, and synthetic pigments while attempting to remain climate conscious. While using sustainable or recycled materials are deemed less professional by commercial galleries, Aala advocated that this is the exact reason we need to engage with climate conversations. Challenging the belief that material perfection defines commercial value could empower artists to pursue sustainability in their creative practices, without anxiety over losing financial recognition. Aala shared practical examples from her practice, including using recycled paper and offcuts from other projects to create prints, and switching materials from harsh chemicals to more environmentally conscious materials, such as vinegar or soda ash.

Aala emphasised how artists have played a leading role in social and political movements, navigating change by facilitating discourse on the most important and pressing issues around us. But making important environmental changes is difficult without adequate acknowledgement and valuation, because it could threaten the livelihoods of individuals who advocate for sustainable practice. We were asked by Aala to reflect on how we have become disconnected from the natural world, and the imminent necessity of communal access to green spaces, ecological education, and environmental awareness in our daily lives. If our lives are dominated by consumerism, commercialism, and convenience, how can we remedy this?

These reflections led into Sara Bor’s introduction of her work. A visual artist and PhD researcher living in Mid-Devon, Bor’s practice is rooted in creating a participatory relationship with the landscape when creating art. She spoke about a collaborative project she is engaged in between Studio Kind, Barnstaple and East Quay, Watchet, where a group of artists are using the theme of Passing Through to facilitate their work. As part of the project, Bor joined a group walk along the River Barle on Exmoor. The experience inspired a collaborative piece between herself and Rachael Wilson, in which they submerged one of Wilson’s poems in the water and allowed the river to become a reciprocal interlocutor in the project. Using sustainable and found materials, Bor and Wilson sought to create a shared authorship between human and environment, blurring boundaries that usually separate the people from the landscapes they inhabit.

When questioned about how she feels using pigments and materials derived from the earth, Bor offered that there is a necessary etiquette when taking resources in this way. She felt that everybody holds a responsibility to ensure that they only ever take what they need, rather than taking what they want. This responsibility, she suggested, mirrors the broader principles of sustainable living, mired by a consumerist culture which values mass, newness and short-lived trends.

We felt that while constant respect for the land is crucial, lots of responsibility begins with small changes. Without those stepping stones, it is impossible for the issues which feel overwhelming to be tackled. But this is not the final answer. Small changes like swapping to sustainable materials, talking to those around you, or going for a walk by the river, may feel like a drop in the ocean. However, these become the means to create ripples further afield and build up substantial changes. Collectives like those present at this Climate Conversations session are a testament to the mutual concerns we share more widely, which can be confronted together in stronger ways. As the 30th annual UN climate meeting COP30 begins in Belém, marking ten years of the Paris Agreement, we are reminded that the projected global climate targets have not been met and that environmental action currently remains insufficient. While we watch anticipatorily to see what emerges from this meeting, it is important to remember as common people that our expressions of solidarity, commitment, and community, be it in education, protest, voting, or artwork, are our most valuable tools to work together towards change.

If you want to engage with upcoming COP30 artworks and climate conversations in East Devon, visit the links below:

Climate Conversations talk and film screening

Thursday 20 November, 6.00 - 7.30pm
The Beehive, Dowell St, Honiton EX14 1LZ

Watch a heart-warming short film ‘We Are All People of Power’ celebrating the local and human stories behind the energy transition in Devon followed by Climate Conversations talk with exhibiting artist, Polly Meyrick, in conversation with energy expert from Regen, the not-for-profit centre of energy expertise.

Part of ‘We Are All People of Power’ programme including exhibition, workshops, film and talk. The exhibition on display at the Beehive gallery showcases the work of Polly Meyrick. The film and artwork highlight how renewable energy creates new opportunities and strengthens local communities—bringing new jobs, funding for local projects, and support for people struggling with energy costs to make their homes more comfortable. It also showcases community energy, how farms and community buildings can reduce running costs, and how solar farms can foster new areas of biodiversity.

Book Tickets →

COP 30 artwork at Sidmouth Wall Space

Sidmouth (04.11.25 - 04.02.26)
Free ink workshops: 15.11.25, 10am – 1pm
View individual artworks in the digital gallery here.

Find out more →