Activism and Art

In an earlier episode of this podcast, Standing Your Ground, I interviewed three women occupying a house in the inner west of Sydney, Australia. The house was slated for demolition and the four of us sat in the grounds of the house around a table, with imaginary cups of tea, until we were arrested.   The purpose was to protest against Westconnex, an urban motorway extension in Sydney. The research indicates that urban motorway extensions, as well as being exorbitantly expensive, are damaging to health, community and environment, and actually encourage more cars onto the road.     Based on a still from a Russ Hermann video, Janet, a Sydney-based artist, created a painting depicting the four of us at the occupation.   Inspired by This Changes Everything and a talk given by Naomi Klein as part of the Sydney Peace Prize, Janet entered into environmental activism and non-violent direct action about a year ago. She became involved with the anti-Westconnex campaign in Sydney, through No Westconnex Public Transport and Save Sydney Park.   In this interview, Janet talks about how she uses her artistic passion and skills in her efforts to generate meaningful action on climate change, global warming and reducing the use of fossil fuels.