The story of an embedded artist

The A+E programme is currently resident at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh and is tasked with reimagining the cathedral as an ecological commons for the city. A+E is curated by artist Jonathan Baxter in collaboration with a wide range of partners.

For ‘The story of an embedded artist’ we spoke with Jonathan Baxter and The Revd John Conway, Provost of St Mary’s, about the role of an embedded artist and the value of creativity and collaboration in climate action.

In what ways are artists well positioned to work on climate change projects?

The Revd John Conway: A basic way of describing the role of the artist is as someone who helps us all to see the world differently, and therefore to inhabit the world differently. That connects the role of the artist very directly to the work of responding to the climate crisis, because we will only find a way through the crisis by reimagining our current ways of living and relating to the earth and one another. The current dominant view of the world is shaped by consumer capitalism, by seeing everything and everyone as things, to be monetised and manipulated to our individual benefit. An artist can help us think beyond that mindset, by helping us reimagine ourselves as part of a wider interconnected web.

How did you come to be the embedded artist at A+E at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral?

Regenerative Cathedral Pilgrimage by Sarah Gittins and Jonathan Baxter.

Jonathan Baxter: I’d been working at the interface of art and ecology for some years, and I was looking for a context to embed my practice. I was also concerned about the precarious nature of arts funding and the favouring of short-term, anti-ecological practices, so I was looking for an alternative context – specifically an institutional one – with long-term commitments to address ecological concerns.

While in conversation with John Conway about the possibility of renting an unused church building in another part of town, I became interested in some of the challenges the Cathedral faces – primarily, its civic responsibility to address the climate and ecological crisis. John also showed me the Cathedral’s Song School murals by Phoebe Anna Traquair. Between talk of the Cathedral’s civic responsibilities and the imagery depicted in the murals – which show figures walking through a Scottish Borders landscape of biodiversity – something sparked.

What is your programme of work and why is it important in this setting?

Regenerative Cathedral Labyrinth by Sarah Gittins and Jonathan Baxter.

Jonathan Baxter: My work with the Cathedral takes inspiration from the Traquair murals to ask what a contemporary ‘song of creation’ might look like, sound like, taste like, smell like, feel like and move like. The difference between ‘nature’ and ‘creation’ and how that difference positions us in response to the climate and ecological crisis is worth engaging. It allows me to frame practical projects like creating a wildflower labyrinth or developing a community garden within a wider regenerative context; a context that entangles consciousness with cosmos. The same applies to the other projects and artworks I co-create. I’m quite clear that a dualistic understanding of ‘nature’, as something ‘out there’, rather than something ‘we are’, is the root cause of the climate and ecological crisis. So, working in a context that allows me to engage that language and challenge that division is helpful.

Why is creative work important in the setting of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral?

The Revd John Conway: Art and religion in the West have a long history of collaboration – to describe the artist as someone who helps us see the world in new ways connects the vocation of art very directly to the concerns of Christian faith, which also wants to help people into fresh relationship with the earth, one another, and ultimately with God. A Cathedral is a building built to last, and to be a place where serious questions and moral wrestlings can be faced honestly. The climate crisis is the predominant question of our time, and if the Cathedral was not playing its part in facing up to it, it would be betraying its vocation.

How important is collaboration in creative climate projects and community action?

Regenerative Cathedral Refugees by Sarah Gittins and Jonathan Baxter.

Jonathan Baxter: Collaboration is key, it’s what all ecologies and social practices are made of. There’s no part of me or my practice that isn’t collaborative. So, yes, everything I do in my role here is collaborative – from working with the Cathedral staff and congregation, members of the local community, the wider climate justice movement and, of course, the Cathedral’s more-than-human ecologies.

For me, the real question is how to collaborate across ideological divides and worldviews. Say, between climate deniers and climate activists, capitalists and anarchists, or between religious and secular worldviews. Different strategies lend themselves to different contexts. Personally, I’m interested in the gap between what we think we know and what the climate crisis reveals about our limited knowledge. It’s from that gap that interesting conversations, artworks and effective community action arise.

The Revd John Conway: Collaboration means, at heart, taking everyone seriously and recognising the contribution that each might grow into. The climate crisis affects us all (though clearly some more than others), and it demands a response from us all. Collaboration is key, therefore, in helping us all into such a response. The climate crisis will not be solved by simply leaving it up to others (be they governments, corporations), but instead by getting us all involved in the changes that we need to make, and simultaneously demanding that the powers of this world do so too. The role of the Cathedral, for example, is not just to preach about these things, but to make us all active participants in change.

Jonathan Baxter combines the roles of artist, curator and peer educator to deliver a series of participatory art projects and peer learning programmes. Jonathan has worked under the conceptual framework of the A+E programme since 2012. His residency at the Cathedral runs from 2020 to 2030, in line with Edinburgh City Council’s and Scottish Episcopal Church’s 2030 net-zero targets.

St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Edinburgh, central church of the Diocese of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church, a home to a thriving church community and a landmark in Edinburgh’s New Town.

This story is part of a series developed for Scottish Government’s Climate Week 2024, showcasing the work Culture for Climate Scotland is supporting to help achieve an environmentally sustainable Scotland. This year’s Climate Week is a chance for communities and organisations to celebrate and encourage climate action by sharing ‘Stories for Change’.