- Posted on November 19th, 2024
CCL Alumni in Focus: Su Shaw
Julie’s Bicycle’s Creative Climate Leadership (CCL) programme aims to build an international network of diverse and influential cultural climate leaders who will work with their communities to make change happen.
Su Shaw took part in the CCL UK 2023 programme. She is a sound artist, musician and producer who creates under the alias, SHHE.
How has your journey unfolded since CCL, and what creative climate projects are you currently working on?
My journey has unfolded in many ways since CCL.
Last year, I was invited to Iraq to create a sound work for an exhibition in Erbil in response to the critical water crisis across the country. I was initially reluctant and nervous to make work in response to an issue that I had no prior understanding of, especially within a challenging hydro-political landscape.
This invite came a month after I had participated in the CCL programme. Many of the conversations from that week still permeated my thoughts – the importance of space making and platform sharing, listening, giving a voice to those who cannot so easily share their own – these were all instrumental in my decision to take part and went on to inform the project hugely.
The resulting sound work, When Water No Longer Flows, was presented at Erbil Citadel as part of a group exhibition alongside the work of six incredible Iraqi/Kurdish artists. Earlier this year, the sound installation toured to Sulaymaniyah in east Kurdistan-Iraq and the installation was also reimagined as a radio work, which was broadcast as part of Radiophrenia.
Recently I premiered a new project, The Moving Tides, at Sonica Festival in Glasgow.
Navigating the complexities of our relationship with the sea, the project utilises synthesised sounds and sources of uncertainty to balance introspection with urgency.
The Moving Tides draws on the themes of Rachel Carson’s seminal book, The Sea Around Us, which was a huge inspiration to me. Ideas for the project were first developed during an artist residency in Alexandria, Egypt, where I spent one month creating a sound work in response to the rising sea levels of the Mediterranean. This residency was supported through a British Council Creative Commission for Climate Action, in partnership with B’sarya for Arts.
A current creative climate project that I am excited to develop is a collaboration with Bea Jeavons (CCL Australia 2023) – the co-founder of climate solutions agency FEAT – who I met during a CCL online gathering. FEAT’s success across Australia has been really inspiring to me – in particular their Solar Slice model.
With support through CCL Actions (thank you, JB), Bea and I have been working together to explore climate advocacy and creative communication within Scotland’s music network. Earlier this year we partnered with Sonica Festival; Scotland’s largest sonic arts festival – and we have been working with them on a number of environmental and sustainability initiatives across the festival programme. This work culminated in a panel discussion at Sonica last month – but we are already in discussion to explore ways that we can continue and expand this partnership across future festival editions.
What does Creative Climate Leadership mean to you?
Creative Climate Leadership is an opportunity to reimagine, to reshape, to expand and explore the modals of possibility.
CCL provides an opportunity to question and challenge traditional and outdated ideals – to move away from, ‘That’s just the way it is / that’s just the way it always has been’.
Sometimes I ask myself why I choose to create and release more sound into the world. This question is difficult to navigate, especially working within an industry that places so much focus on continuous output. What would it mean to shift the focus to input instead?
Creative Climate Leadership to me means using my voice – as well as extending my platforms to help facilitate and support the voices of others.
What is most exciting about working in the creative community on climate transformations?
What inspires me most is the strength and growth of the climate movement.
I am motivated by the work happening all across the CCL network, the courage of individuals and collectives – local, national, global – who engage, take action and who are committed to keeping the climate, nature and justice crisis at the forefront of conversation. All of the opportunities for convergence and coalescence.
Eventually everything connects.
What are your ambitions for your creative climate project?
Each project begins in the same way; I start by listening.
The ambition for each of my projects is also the same – I hope to create and facilitate a listening environment; an accessible space that can support and encourage reflection.
This November, I will travel to Porto Alegre in Brazil for a month-long residency with Kino Beat Festival. Supported by British Council’s Circular Culture fund, the residency is a collaboration with five artists/researchers based in Porto Alegre, alongside another important collaborator – the Guaíba River. In May 2024, the river broke its banks, contributing to the worst flooding that Brazil has experienced in 80 years, impacting 2.3 million people and displacing 600,000 across Porto Alegre and the surrounding regions.
One of the opening provocations for the residency is, ‘what it means to live on the margins of such a powerful water body’. How do we acknowledge its changing ecosystem? Our collective ambition will be to explore ways that we can create a space for contemplation, for reflection, for hope – even celebration – amidst devastation. My focus will be on finding a way to express these experiences, perspectives, and multitude of voices (human and non-human) through sound.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone working on climate-related projects right now?
Document your growth and progress; daily/weekly/monthly – whichever makes sense to you. Note your perceived successes and perceived failures along the way.
When you feel like you (or your project) has stalled, look back to see how far you’ve come.
Any upcoming programmes / webinars / events to mention?
Kino Beat Festival – Porto Alegre, October-December 2024
Which experience made your worldview change upside down? (asked by previous CCL Spotlight interviewee Lyke Poortvliet)
Seeing the retreating Kibo ice cap near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Some years ago, I used to manage fundraising events for a charity – often organising overseas mountain treks, including Mount Kilimanjaro.
On average, 35,000 people attempt to climb Mt Kilimanjaro each year. In 2011 – the year of our climb – research was published revealing that many of the glaciers on the mountain were rapidly receding. It took a few years for my eyes to fully open to the irrevocable damage that trekking tourism was having on these fragile ecosystems. It’s glaringly obvious now, but back then, I hadn’t yet made the connection.
Margret Grebowicz’s book, ‘Mountains and Desire; Climbing vs. The End of the World’ examines the seen/unseen impacts that our actions (and desires) have on our environments – marred by ‘colonial history, chauvinism, ableism and the capitalist compulsion to unlimited growth’. Reading this book challenged many of my perceptions around climbing. I still climb across Scotland and I’m very lucky to live very close to the Cairngorms (the UK’s largest national park), although I’m much more conscious of my footprint these days.
Links:
The Creative Climate Leadership Network is supported by
Porticus, the European Cultural Foundation’s Culture of Solidarity Fund, and Pro Helvetia and Stiftung Mercator Schweiz for CCL Switzerland.
