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Research / Practice Article

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

Chthulucene Hekateris

Submitted
18 January 2024
Published
11-03-2024

Abstract

Responding to extremes of nature, droughts, forest fires and floods, “Chthulucene Hekateris” (Gould C. 2022) uses an expanded approach to drawing, to envision future hybrid humans, through evolutionary change, resulting from environmental impacts on the Earth in the distant future. The continued striving for technological “advance” has led to mutations in DNA to facilitate living on a damaged planet. Here I look beyond the Anthropocene to the Chthulucene, a term introduced by Donna Haraway to depict a third epoch where species live and die together responsibly, through perilous ecological times. I will delve into the past to speculate on the future, presenting examples of artists and designers who have used expanded drawing approaches, materially and digitally to make sense of the world so that we can see ourselves more clearly, to speculate in order to foresee a new future. Through my practice-based research I create a space where hybrid creatures meet with the audience so that we can imagine future inhabitants of the Earth and join the “Chthulucene Hekateris” (Gould C. 2022) as a manifestation of a future reality. Drawing is used to imagine a world using dance as a way of bringing the two worlds together to create a performative environment with mixed media, drawing and video installation. This artwork uses dance as a motif to imagine the future beings that will inhabit the Earth, posing questions to prompt action, inviting the audience to be part of the change.