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Juliette Dumas

Juliette Dumas creates conceptual artworks that address our strained relationship with nature. Dumas uses the physical properties of her materials and the dynamics of their interaction, to create poignant metaphors for humanity’s struggle to control the effects of environmental degradation. In creating the work “Untitled,” for example, Dumas burns materials and then attempts to sew the brittle, charred remnants back together. In her “Fire Paintings,” Dumas tries to manage an unpredictable fire on the surface of her work, an undertaking that prevents her from controlling the outcome of the painting. Dumas equates these “desperate actions” to the challenge of managing climate change, suggesting that the belief in our ability to rectify mistakes after-the-fact is a troubling leap of faith. In many of her works, Dumas portrays the tension between the natural world and our obsession with petroleum-based products. In her series entitled “Strategies of Resistance,” Dumas depicts natural materials, such as stone and wood, held in a state of suspension by plastic sheet materials that are stretched and stressed by the relationship. These works portend a failure of the plastic, resulting in a free fall of the natural elements. In a work entitled “A Brief History of Oil and Ice,” Dumas encases crude oil inside of a block of ice. The ice inevitably fails to contain the oil, which seeps through cracks and drips down the surface like tears. In this poetic work, Dumas depicts our inability to contain the effects of fossil fuel consumption. She relies on melting ice — the quintessential symbol of climate change — to express the futility of our efforts and the accompanying guilt we experience as we continue to consume. In all of these works, Dumas asks us to consider whether our approach to managing environmental outcomes is any less futile than the strategies she employs to control the outcomes of her artistic process.

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inkblot in the form of insect with wolf profiles in negative space

image of mountain with reflection in lake

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Juliette Dumas on her “Fire Paintings”: “On the surface of the painting, a fight is staged between lighting fluid and oil. The lighting fluid fuels the fire, the oil quenches it. Because I have to concentrate entirely on the struggle of the fire, I cannot control the final outcome of the painting.”

Dumas on “Untitled” (above): “This piece is the result of a desperate action: trying to sew back together something that was burnt. The burnt elements fall apart when you try to stitch them, making the action very delicate, an act of faith when things are too late, symbolizing the situation that climate-conscious people are in now.”

A Brief History of Oil and Ice

Conceptual artworks, such as the works by Juliette Dumas in this exhibition, are most successful when they deliver a poignant and legible message through metaphor. In these works, Dumas achieves this result by using the properties and behaviors of her materials to tell the story about our tenuous approach to environmental issues. In “A Brief History of Oil and Ice,” Dumas relies on the properties of crude oil and melting ice, as well as our association of those materials with climate change, to convey a powerful message. In Dumas’s words: “As the ice painting melts, the crude oil trapped inside of it starts oozing out, expressing the guilt.”

plastic bag with rocks hanging by threads

Strategies of Resistance #1

Strategies of Resistance #4

Many scientists believe that we are approaching (or have already reached) irreversible tipping points — dangerous thresholds for abrupt changes to the climate system that would make it difficult, if not impossible, to revert to a prior state of that system. Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that irreversible consequences from climate change are becoming increasingly likely and that predictable and controllable consequences may be “an exception rather than a rule.”

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Juliette Dumas’s work addresses our ongoing struggle to control the unpredictable effects of climate change and other environmental challenges. If you are inspired by her work, you can take action in your own life. Select one or more pledges listed below and spread the word. You can also learn more by visiting our Pledge Center. Let’s #EndOvershoot and save our #OneEarth.