In the article “Art and Ecology” by Andrew Brown , the author gives great insight into the power of art. Specifically, the impact of art on ecology. Artists popularize numerous important environmental issues. The thing is, as the article elaborates, is that the art’s purpose is to be viewed as “traditional” art, something to clearly look at or a  form of propaganda. How much power does art have? Well first, I should elaborate on how art has been influenced by the environment.

According to the article, art has been manufactured by humanity for tens of thousands of years. They would record images of nature while using natural materials like charcoal, making the art describe  a physical and visual relationship between humanity and nature(Art and Ecology). From there humanity’s relationship with nature drastically changed. Humanity began to alter nature at huge levels once the Industrial Revolution started.  Still artistic depictions of nature  remained, all throughout Europe and America for example paintings depicting Manifest Destiny. The Manifest Destiny art pieces depicted the new areas of  the West  and caused people to want to go to the West. Photography had a big impact as well. More recently, Artists have manufactured sculptures that depict nature and even discolored rivers to show the negative effects of water pollution. One art exhibition even depicted inhumane actions that happen at a catfish farm and caused massive backlash in Britain.

After going through these examples, it is clear that art has a great influence on the world. I believe art should continue to be used to showcase environmental issues.  Humans use art as a tool, so I do not believe it should be limited. Art should not exclusively be just to draw beautiful images, but to have lasting impacts on the world. I cannot wait to see the new art that will change  the perception of environmental issues.