Imaginaries of Social and Environmental Justice

Imaginaries of Social and Environmental Justice expands on the work of the art, activism and political imagination network, which formed as a group of academics, artists and activists interested in producing open conversations about social and environmental justice through the production of arts-based research and artistic production. The network is international, principally based in the UK, Bangladesh and Uganda, and is led from the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York.

The use of art in collaborative ideas-making and efforts to effect change has enjoyed a resurgence amongst researchers, activists and international social and environmental justice practitioners. There is well-grounded critique of the unequal power dynamics associated with this kind of socially conscious art-making, and the risk of art-washing problematic practices. What is less clearly articulated is how the arts can lead participants – whether researchers, activists or human rights practitioners – to new ways of knowing and imagining, disordering familiar power and knowledge inequalities to make way for new ideas.

Following the themes of disruption, performance and translation, the network has worked on three core research and impact projects; Creative Alternatives (2017-2019), Pushing Back ( 2018-2019) and Art, Activism and Archive (2019-2021). The projects were designed to trouble development and activism scripts, propose alternative methods for expanding civic space, and reimagine the archives that constrain our collective futures.