Introduction: The Canary Project (Susannah Sayler and Ed Morris)

We are two representatives of The Canary Project, Ed Morris and Susannah. We happen to be the founding members. We are a husband and a wife.

The Canary Project produces visual media and artworks that deepen public understanding of climate change and/or energize commitment to solutions. In addition to us (Susannah and Ed), The Canary Project consists of more than 30 participating artists, volunteers, designers, researchers, etc. of various degrees of involvement. We make fact-based art and art-based activism.

Our most substantial project is photo-based. (We used to just say photography and not photography-based). The photographs are of landscapes impacted by climate change. We now say photo-based because we are combining these large scale photos with archival images and other material borne out of research into the implications of the photographs. (None of this is reflected on our website, which like all websites older than a year is in bad need of a makeover, but for the record it is www.canary-project.org. Another recent website is: www.greenpatriotosters.org. We are currently Loeb Fellows at The Harvard University Graduate School of Design).

We believe that era of Galieo sitting in one room and the priests in another is past.

To play by the rules: our practice involves:

Time because we are interested in appreciating the many histories that are culminating in this moment (human, geologic, scientific, etc.) and are interested in the time-scale of climate change as it relates to the human presence on the planet.

Appropriation because we are interested in the found object of scientific data, of old images, and of recylced material such as white dress shirts.

Hybridity because we are a collective. (And need to make this felt more on our damn out of date website by which hundreds of people misjudge us every day).

(Susannah did not approve this message as she is sleeping at the moment, but I thought it might add some dramatic tension for us to quibble periodically throughout this public exchange).