Creative Strategies for Change: workshop with Suzanne Dhaliwal

While we watch the world’s leaders stumble towards agreement at COP26 in trepidation, at home we are often left with a feeling of powerlessness wondering, ‘what can we do?’. At our last GEN In Conversation Colonial conservation and uneven development we discussed radical alternatives and imaginings, along with tangible examples from around the world that offer an antidote to neocolonial conservation, extractivist models and so-called nature-based solutions. We realised that the diverse lived experiences of our panelists were all connected through one action: using art and creativity as a tool of resistance and resilience against environmental devastation, human rights violations, and neo-colonialism. 

Creative climate campaigner, Suzanne Dhaliwal, led a workshop on creative strategies for change, where we explored power and privilege mapping to develop creative campaign strategies to sustain our earth and for supporting resilient communities. Some of the questions we explored: 

  • How can we use creative strategies through art and activism to amplify our messages?
  • How do we keep the momentum going from COP26, and continue to create radical alternatives and creative reimaginings? 
  • How can we harness our own power and privilege – as individuals and as collectives? 
  • What practices and rituals could help to revitalise our connection to nature, spirit, and community? How can we move in a way that is transformative, offering possibilities for healing?

Video recording of the full event:

Suzanne Dhaliwal

GEN In Conversation speaker and facilitator, Suzanne Dhawali

Suzanne Dhaliwal is a Climate Justice Creative, Campaigner, Researcher, Lecturer in Environmental Justice and Trainer in Creative Strategies for Decolonisation.

Voted one of London’s most influential people in Environment 2018 by the Evening Standard. In 2009 she co-founded the UK Tar Sands Network, which challenged BP and Shell investments in the Canadian tar sands in solidarity with frontline Indigenous communities, spurring the internationalisation of the fossil fuel divestment movement. She continues to serve as director and campaigner for the organisation. 

Suzanne has led campaigns and artistic interventions to challenge fossil fuel investments in the Arctic and Nigeria that violate the rights of Indigenous peoples, and of those seeking justice in the wake of the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster. Her corporate and financial campaigning spans over a decade. She went on to complete a Master of Arts in Social Sculpture in Oxford, to develop creative strategies to address the lack of representation and on-going white supremacy in the UK climate justice movement. She recently completed a Research Fellowship at the Centre for Research in Spatial Environmental and Cultural Politics at University of Brighton and is currently practice tutor in Ecology Futures at the St. Joost School of Art & Design.

Any further information

Please let us know if you have any questions regarding the above information or the event itself by writing to samirah@globalenvironments.org.