Between Image and Object: Looking for a Visual Language for the Environment

The aim of my study is to discuss the artistic language as a tool for narrating the environment. I consider whether modified art-based research (ABR) methods can be effective in relation to scientific data and the dissemination of knowledge about environmental changes. The main research question posed in the text is: How the effects of human actions, contributing to the extermination of the natural world, can be conveyed by visual means? In respect to two art exhibitions: “Endling” by Diana Lelonek and “Plantae Malum” by Anna Kędziora, I argue that the artistic methods can be used for disseminating knowledge about current environmental changes and their consequences for the future of the planet Earth. The main effects of my research prove that the combination of authority of photography and object-oriented character of the artwork are effective in telling the story of environmental changes and can increase recipients' awareness of their occurrence. By showing natural objects, they address the relationship between humans and the natural environment, laying bare the mechanisms of exclusion and extermination.