“My art and resolve is for the next generation. For them I will illuminate the damage, transcend the breakage, bridge the disconnection,” said Anne de Carbuccia. The French-American environmental artist uses photographs, installations, videos and conferences to document manmade threats to the planet, and yesterday her first documentary film debuted at the Venice International Film Festival.
Taking place this year between 29th August and 8th September, the festival was the first of its kind in history, originally staged back in 1932. Today it attracts some of the most celebrated directors and actors to the Lido di Venezia, an island reef off the coast of north-eastern Italy, screening high-profile titles that typically go on to dominate awards season, and this year will feature premieres from the likes of Mike Leigh, Paul Greengrass, the Coen brothers and Luca Guadagnino. But the aim of the festival is also to raise awareness, and de Carbuccia’s 11-minute film ‘One Ocean’ highlights the impact of climate change, the burning forests in Siberia and the consumption of single-use plastic on the sea.
Anne de Carbuccia in Antarctica
It was her studies in Anthropology and Art History at Columbia University that developed de Carbuccia’s interest in the dangers of human beings as a new geological force. She has since travelled the globe documenting the impact of mankind on the environment through her art, creating and photographing temporary installations (TimeShrines) that capture and preserve the memory of endangered places, animals and cultures.
Through her photographs, and now her film, de Carbuccia aims to draw attention to the environmental crisis and to move people to change the behaviors and habits that contribute to it. Donations to her TimeShrine Foundation, which uses her work to raise awareness, help fund free exhibitions and support NGOs that work in the field to protect the animals and environments featured in the artwork.
“What I see down there is so dramatic and different from my childhood memories,” says de Carbuccia in the ‘One Ocean’ trailer, who grew up in Corsica. “Documenting it has become a central part of my work, representing the beauty and sadness of what we are losing.” Watch the full trailer below.