Eco-Performance Art and Spatial Justice in the US

<p>In <i>Eco-Performance Art and Spatial Justice in the US</i> Courtney B. Ryan traces how urban artists in the US from the 1970s until today contend with environmental domestication and spatial injustice through performance. </p><p>In theater art film and digital media the artists featured in this book perform everyday spatialized micro-acts to contest the mutual containment of urbanites and nonhuman nature. Whether it is plant artist Vaughn Bell going for a city stroll in her personal biosphere photographer Naima Green photographing Black urbanites in lush New York City parks guerrilla gardeners launching seed bombs into abandoned city lots or a satirical tweeter parodying BP’s response to the 2010 <i>Deepwater Horizon </i>oil spill the subjects in this book challenge deeply engrained Western directives to domesticate nonhuman nature. In examining how urban eco-artists perform alternate ecologies that celebrate the interconnectedness of marginalized human vegetal and aquatic life Ryan suggests that small environmental performances can expose spatial injustice and increase spatial mobility. </p><p>Bringing a performance perspective to the environmental humanities this interdisciplinary text offers readers stymied by the global climate crisis a way forward. It will appeal to a wide range of students and academics in performance media studies urban geography and environmental studies.</p>