By Alicia Tang
Greenwich Avenue’s C. Parker Gallery opened their 10th Anniversary season with their new exhibit, “Blue Skies: Now More than Ever” to call attention to air pollution.
The gallery reception opened on September 7, marking the United Nations’ International Day for Clean Air and Blue Skies. Six different artists contributed pieces portraying the theme.
The reception featured an appearance and speech from Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Jamil Ahmad. Ahmad, who calls clean air “a basic necessity,” works on developing sustainability policies and represents the UN Environment Committee in international meetings and summits.
“We can do without everything, but we cannot do without air,” Ahmad said.
99% of the earth’s population breathes polluted air by World Health Organization standards.
“We cannot discuss and address pollution without addressing climate change, and for climate change, we are off track,” he said.
Air pollution stems from either anthropogenic, meaning originating from human activity, or natural sources, according to Ahmad. Some major anthropogenic sources include transportation emissions and heavy reliance on fossil fuels.
“The importance of this Clean Air Day is not just symbolic, it is a call to collective action,” the UN representative said. He calls the exhibition “a testament to the power of awareness and action.”
“When I go and speak somewhere, it’s half an hour,” Ahmad said. The exhibit, to be displayed until October 8, lasts longer.
Additionally, he says the medium of art heightens the impact.
“We can use the power of art to enhance awareness and to convey the urgency for action on climate,” remarked Ahmad. “It is also the power of art which can challenge perspectives and which can inspire introspection.”
Gallery owner Tiffany Benincasa knew this cause was an important one to back. She had reached out to the UN Environment Programme and curated from Rick Garcia, Kay Griffith, Lisa Cuscuna, Hamilton Aguiar, Felicity Kostakis, and Stephanie Paige.
“We are all part of a larger community and collectively we can make a bigger impact when we
collaborate,” Benincasa said. “It’s like the ‘Butterfly Effect’ – when we all connect, it makes a difference.”
The pieces range in style and method, but all reflect the often overlooked beauty of clean air and blue skies.
“They each brought their own special energy and spirit of environmental awareness to this art exhibition,” commented Benincasa.
Cuscuna’s surrealist piece entitled ‘Passages II’ depicts an ocean scene with a translucent page curling upwards to reveal another ocean. Another entitled “Cloud Doorway” depicts an open doorway from one beachfront scene to the next.
“It’s like going through portals is seeing change, and making a pathway for yourself and moving forward,” Cuscuna explained of her art.
Garcia tried a different approach with his artworks “Five Easy Steps,” “Seating for Two,” and “Good Company,” to convey the theme in his own way.
“I used to include clouds in the paintings,” Garcia noted of the empty blue skies in his work. “But not in these for that purpose–to really emphasize clean air.”
While the existence of air pollution is not new news, the effects of the Canadian forest fires have made the issue incontestable for Northeastern states like Connecticut.
First Selectman Fred Camillo, who was also in attendance, emphasized that in matters of conservation, the town tries to “think globally and act locally.”
While the town has started a sustainability committee and has been working on energy policies with the Energy Management Advisory Committee, Camillo stressed that there is still “so much more to do.”
The reception was attended by members of the Connecticut Working Together for Clean Air, the Greenwich Conservation Commission; the Greenwich Sustainability Committee; the Greenwich Tree Conservancy; the Greenwich Land Trust, and Greenwich Green & Clean.
Attendee Susie Baker, who has worked as a marine biology teacher at Greenwich High School, and is now co-founder of the Greenwich Point Conservancy, has always been “very aware of the natural world.”
Baker, who is involved with numerous conservation groups in town, including the Conservation Commission, advises protection of open space.
“When you lose open space, you lose natural habitat. You lose natural habitat, you lose the production of oxygen,” Baker says. “You lose the ability to take carbon dioxide out of the air–that’s the biggest contributor of greenhouse gasses to the climate crisis.”
Baker says that conservation on a personal level starts with something children learn: the three R’s. “Reduce the amount of waste, reuse what you have, recycle what you don’t need.”
Along with other conservation activities this month, the town will commemorate International Coastal Clean Up Day at Tod’s Point on September 23.
