Amy Balkin et al.

A People's Archive of Sinking and Melting (Until 12 November)

Anvers Island contributions to the archive
Amy Balkin et al., 'A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting', (2012-ongoing), Anvers Island, Antarctic Collection (Neus, Burns, Kovats). Courtesy of the Archive

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

You are invited to contribute to A People's Archive of Sinking and Melting, a growing collection of items contributed by people living in places that may disappear – or already have become uninhabitable – as a result of the physical, political and economic impacts of climate change. The contributed objects together form a record of community-gathered evidence that attempts to make the physical effects of climate change palpable, projecting into a future characterized by loss.

Talbot Rice Gallery will be collecting items from across Scotland until the end of COP 26 on 12 November 2021. Items collected before or during The Normal will be shown as part of that exhibition (more information below).

As of 2020 the archive contains contributions from: Anvers Island (Antarctica), Cape Verde, Greenland, Kivalina (Alaska), Nepal, New Orleans, New York City, Panama, Peru, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, and Tuvalu.

Talbot Rice Gallery is now collecting contributions from Scotland. The project is organized around The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – an international treaty on climate change. Items collected in Scotland will contribute to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland archive. Contributions will be displayed at Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh as part of the exhibition The Normal, which will open in 2021. 

WHAT TO CONTRIBUTE

Anything contributed is equally valued. It can be something natural, manufactured, found, made, or discarded, including trash. It doesn't have to originate from a location but can be anything found there, and must weigh less than 8oz / 220g. Contributions will permanently join the Archive.

Are you ready to contribute? Please fill out the form - click here to download.

You will be asked to email the form, and either bring or post your contribution to Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh. All details for postage are in the below link.

Thank you for engaging in this project. To see the full archive that you are helping us to build please follow this link to: A People's Archive of Sinking and Melting.