Beth Johnston
The Great Delusion
“Bill McKibben wrote, ‘We live in a post-natural world.’ But did, ‘Nature’ in this sense ever exist? Or was it rather the deification of the human that gave it an illusory apartness from ourselves? Now that non-human agencies have dispelled that illusion, we are confronted suddenly with a new task: that of finding other ways in which to imagine the unthinkable beings and events of this era.
– Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
As an interdisciplinary artist and educator making work in|around|about|within the climate crisis, I am interested in art’s capacity to create space for the “unthinkable.”
Grounded in research on environmental justice, my work explores temporal chasms, climate data encounters, the decolonization of nature, more-than-human worlds, and how to visualize the imperceptible.
The following images are video stills from The Great Delusion, a visual essay exploring Western notions of nature from within the climate crisis. As we face unprecedented ecological disaster, I join Amitav Ghosh in questioning:
“Are we deranged?”
“Future generations might think so.”
Image
![A pile of rocks in the shape of a cairn.](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2022-05/PH_bjohnsto_file1.jpg?itok=kRZ3lbn_)
The Great Delusion, Cairn 1
Video still
4k footage with sound
2022
Image
![A close up of a picture depicting a mountain scene.](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2022-05/PH_bjohnsto_file2.jpg?itok=24kuz_xn)
The Great Delusion, This Nature Thing
Video still
4k footage with sound
2022
Image
![A color index card showing different shades of red is nailed to a white wall.](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2022-05/PH_bjohnsto_file3.jpg?itok=CSrl5ZA8)
The Great Delusion, What DOES Warm Look like?
Video still
4k footage with sound
2022
Image
![A pile of rocks in the shape of a cairn, or navigation sign.](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2022-05/PH_bjohnsto_file4.jpg?itok=-qVzYIiZ)
The Great Delusion, Cairn 2
Video still
4k footage with sound
2022
Image
![A black and white self portrait with my hand blurred as it moves between pointing at my head and at my heart.](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2022-05/PH_bjohnsto_file5.jpg?itok=HSNhxzsW)
The Great Delusion, Between
Video still
4k footage with sound
2022
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