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Research / Practice Article

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2024): Drawing Anthropocene

Drawing/Climate: Exploring an Attentional Modality of Drawing

Submitted
18 January 2024
Published
11-03-2024

Abstract

Climatic chaos has been the rule in the planet’s material unfolding, not the exception. The concept of Anthropocene is underpinned by theories of growth and development. Climatic chaos adds greater weight to its environing: burdening, persevering, or what may be called undergoing. This article argues that such an undergoing is a contingent and transformational modality of learning where drawing is understood as a medium of experience, rather than as conventional object experienced in relation. It can therefore leverage a sense of learning into. The approach to drawing in this essay explores an attentional modality of drawing that can offer a process of learning through self-inquiry, which I name flow drawing. This practice is situated within the context of a sandy low-lying isthmus known as The Neck, a geomorphology that connects the two landmasses of lunawuni / Bruny Island in Tasmania, Australia. The work is performed in a dynamic-dialectical mode that addresses the understandings of climate, identity, and the ontological foundations of drawing practice. In doing so, it attempts to raise existential questions and offers practiced paths to follow, rework, and extend.