Cover Photo: In celebration of International Museum Day, the Agam Agenda hosted an in-person launch event for Harvest Moon, during the opening of the Mebuyan’s Colony by Leeroy New at the Ateneo Art Gallery last May 18, 2022. © AC Dimatatac/ICSC
Fertile spaces of creative collaboration are emerging in order to tackle the climate crisis. As more and more people work across boundaries and disciplines to address climate change, the arts and humanities have a pivotal role in bringing the crisis home through storytelling, and reimagining narratives on climate altogether.
On May 18, 2022, the Agam Agenda and Ateneo Art Gallery hosted a public event to share creative perspectives on climate, and celebrate poetry and the arts. The program, “Readings from the Edge of the Climate Crisis”, showcased the anthology Harvest Moon: Poems and Stories from the Edge of the Climate Crisis (published by Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities and Milflores Publishing in 2021), and the When Is Now global creative campaign (whenisnow.org).
© AC Dimatatac/ICSC
This event was in line with the launch of the art installation Mebuyan’s Colony by contemporary artist Leeroy New: an installation of giant spheres on bamboo stilts, drawing from Philippine mythology and science fiction, located at the creativity and innovation hub Areté Ateneo, Manila.
The Agam Agenda co-created the event program of “Readings from the Edge of the Climate Crisis”, in line with the launch of Mebuyan’s Colony by Leeroy New: an art installation which draws from Philippine mythology and science fiction through an installation of giant spheres on bamboo stilts. The work refers to Mebuyan who is described in Bagobo mythology as a goddess of death and fertility. The installation was launched in Ateneo Art Gallery last May 18, 2022. © AC Dimatatac/ICSC
Ma. Victoria “Boots” T. Herrera, Director and Chief Curator of the Ateneo Art Gallery, opened the program, who shared how the launch of the art installation was also an appropriate venue to share Harvest Moon: a book that brings together various writings from poets, scientists, climate activists, and more.
More than ever, climate action needs transdisciplinary collaboration. Renato Redentor Constantino, Executive Director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) and co-editor of Harvest Moon, spoke about the need to integrate the arts and humanities with climate science.
“Science and policy-making are insufficient [in addressing the climate crisis],” he said. “What we need is a complete, sustained, and raging integration of the humanities… in order to draw in the public to the larger debate and struggle, where humans, not just nationalities, and entire ecosystems to which we belong can survive and thrive in a climate-constrained future. That’s why the Agam Agenda was born.”
Speaking more about the Harvest Moon anthology, Carissa Pobre, Agam Agenda’s Strategist for Creative Communication, said: “Harvest Moon artfully untethers from typical notions of what climate change is… Through the book, we assert that literature, the arts, and humanities have a pivotal role to play [in addressing the climate crisis.] Today, we are finding ways to work through transdisciplinary initiatives.”
Medical doctor and award-winning poet and performer Ralph Fonte read poetry from Harvest Moon and When Is Now, interspersed with his own translations of the texts into Filipino. He read two interlinked poems from the When Is Now campaign: “anai, when” by Craig Santos Perez (Guam), and “El Secreto” by Ana Aupi (Guatemala and Spain) which was written as a poetic response. He also performed an excerpt from the piece “The Others” by Yewande Omotoso (Nigeria) which was published in Harvest Moon. Fonte is also a municipal health worker in Palawan.
From top-left clockwise: Ralph Fonte, Renato Redentor Constantino, Carissa Pobre, and Ma. Victoria Herrera speak at “Readings from the Edge of the Climate Crisis” public program, in line with the launch of Mebuyan’s Colony by Leeroy New at the Ateneo Art Gallery last May 18, 2022. The Agam Agenda co-created the event program of this event as part of a soft launch of Harvest Moon. © AC Dimatatac/ICSC
The May 18 event was the first, in-person celebration for the Harvest Moon anthology since the coronavirus outbreak, following an online Creators’ Launch and online Press Launch. The Agam Agenda will be mounting more offline, place-based activities that reimagine narratives on climate in the midst of environmental unraveling, and bring together collaborators through the campaign When Is Now.
© AC Dimatatac/ICSC
About the book
Harvest Moon: Poems and Stories from the Edge of the Climate Crisis is edited by Padmapani L. Perez, Rehana Rossouw, Alexandra Walter, and Renato Redentor Constantino. The anthology is composed of more than 30 images and over 30 poems, stories, and essays about the climate crisis from writers, photographers, and artists in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America. The narratives and photographs in this book span 24 countries and 11 languages. Contributors include Shirley Campbell Barr, Vinai Dithajohn, Marjorie Evasco, Luisa A. Igloria, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Leonardo Padura, and Malebo Sephodi. Get a copy of the limited 2021 Philippine edition now.
About the installation
Leeroy New’s Mebuyan’s Colony is on view until March 2023 at the Wong Chu King Foundation Cove, Ateneo College Batch 1980 Cove, and the Eli and Elizabeth Hubahib Cove located at the Areté Amphitheater. The work refers to Mebuyan who is described in Bagobo mythology as a goddess of death and fertility.
