As the major political parties in Britain campaigned for the general election this summer, artist Freddie Yauner had a realization: ‘No one was talking about nature loss and the climate crisis,’ he said. Two weeks before polling day, he sprang into action.
Yauner created an artwork, What colour is disaster?, in a limited edition of 650, with one to be delivered using Parliament’s internal post system to each of the 650 MPs entering the House of Commons after 4 July.
At a glance, the work resembles a paint colour chart, but the name and description of each tone are ominous: ‘War Room Red: Like blood in water, climate impacts don’t stay where they start, but cascade across borders, driving political instability, threatening security and fuelling conflicts,’ reads one beneath a striking red. Others, such as ‘Marooned People’, ‘Burnt Bread Basket’ and ‘Health Meltdown’, describe further catastrophic impacts if the climate crisis is not tackled.
The ominously named colours warn about a future of climate catastrophe and nature loss, if urgent action is not taken.
Running out of colours
Yauner developed What colour is disaster? using the work of Chatham House’s Environment and Society Centre, including its research paper Climate Change Risk Assessment 2021. The colour-chart conceit was inspired by Warming Stripes, a graphic representation of how global temperatures have risen since 1850.
‘Professor Ed Hawkins of Reading University, who created Warming Stripes, said he has run out of colours to represent global warming in recent years, which in itself is quite terrifying,’ said Yauner. So the artist imagined what those colours might be and placed them in a deceptively familiar form: the colour chart.
Shortly after the 4 July election, newly-elected MPs were greeted by Yauner’s ‘What colour is disaster?’ artwork on the first day of Parliament, reminding them that they ‘have an urgent job on their hands’ to address climate change and nature loss.
The majority of British people are worried about climate change, and Yauner believes MPs understand the issues, ‘but often need to be given the courage to act. I hope What colour is disaster? might find its way on to an MP’s mantelpiece, saying, come on, think of your grandchildren,’ he said.
As such, it sits with Yauner’s other art which explores the ill effects of our ‘drive for continual growth’: he has looked into food systems, land use – using Chatham House research – and the need for humanity to adapt in the face of climate change.