Sandra Johnstone

Deluge

Artist Statement

These artworks map my response to the late 2021 heavy precipitation events and devastating flooding in British Columbia. Painting was a way for me to hold the shock and grief of the losses, together with their inevitability. The disruption of transportation corridors and agricultural systems opened questions about my own complicity, as I continue to mobilize atmospheric carbon through my food and transportation choices. As I prepare to teach an undergraduate course on climate change, I wonder: To what extent must climate science education make space for mourning as we witness these increasingly frequent extreme events?

Sandra Johnstone

Through art, Sandra investigates the ethical, political, and educational dimensions of human-Earth interactions, drawing from her MSc in Earth Science and more than a decade as a post-secondary geoscience educator. Sandra is a PhD student in Educational Studies at Lakehead University, researching the social worlds of geoscience education