Iconographies of Climate Catastrophe: The Representation of Climate Change in Art and Film

This chapter reviews visual representations of climate in art and film across the last few decades, exploring shifting artistic, cinematic, televisual and narrative practices that have more recently shaped the communication of the climate emergency. It explores the iconographies that artists and filmmakers have used in the shift from representing contemporaneous and local environmental challenges to depicting the future consequences of climate warming, including widespread biospheric change. The authors sketch the shifting screen media formulations that imagine climate catastrophes, observing how both documentary film, television and contemporary art draw on popular and professional media practices, including news formats and visual effects.