Reimagining the Cultural Narrative: Art and Storytelling for Systemic Change

The author of At Work in the Ruins and host of The Great Humbling addresses “the importance of narratives in shaping our understanding of the world and how they can help us navigate the complexities of life, especially in the face of ecological crises”, exploring the role that “art and storytelling” need to play “alongside science and data” as we respond to “our collective human predicament.” They touch on the risks of using “art as a communications tool” and “doubling down on the logics of modernity” by clinging to narrowly-rationalist perspectives, and encourage us to consider “four kinds of tasks for an age of endings”. Hine suggests that we already live in “uninhabitable worlds,” – “the ‘future’ is already over, it’s just not evenly distributed yet” – but is encouraged by evidence of “engaged surrender,” “honourable harvests” and people “starting small”. We are left considering what a “12-step programme, where the addiction is on the scale of a whole culture or a whole society” might look like.