Little Sun is thrilled to present Eye on the Future, an interdisciplinary film created in partnership with Florida State University, that draws attention to the devastation caused by extreme weather patterns fueled by climate change.
Eye on the Future is a video created by four artists in collaboration with their community and Little Sun. Social practice artist Holly Hanessian, choreographer Leah Bailey, video artist Kiley Brandt, and composer Matt Ramage construct visual and sound worlds that illustrate the extreme impact these hurricanes inflict on North Florida’s communities and landscape. Local artists, movers, and dancers performed choreography using Little Sun solar lamps to showcase the devastating physicality of a storm on a landscape.
“In creating the video, our collaborative desire was to express the intensity and emotional impact these hurricanes have on our lives in North Florida. The Little Sun lamp signifies the hope of a sustainable future achieved through unifying our local and global communities behind sustainable resources and practices,” said Hannessian, Brandt, Bailey, and Ramage in a joint statement.
The film is part of a larger project by Florida State University’s professor and graduate director of art Holly Hanessian and the RIDER Center that examines global warming—specifically how at-risk communities access clean energy and water as climate disasters unfold. The goal is to provide community members with awareness and practical knowledge of how to sustainably prepare for a hurricane. To ensure this, a “Hurricane Go-Pack” was created for public libraries in Florida as an educational tool that informs Florida residents how to sustainably use water before, during, and after a hurricane. Little Sun solar lamps are one of several items included in the waterproof packs.
“Right before Hurricane Michael hit in 2018, I walked past mounds of plastic bottled water for sale at a Walmart to the camping section, where I came across a water filter that can clean 100,000 gallons of water. It was a moment of extreme frustration,” said Hannessian. “Why weren’t these filters available in the front of the store instead of the mountains of single waste plastic bottles that contribute to global warming and indirectly to our increased hurricanes? Three days later, I anxiously watched our bamboo dramatically whip back and forth as Hurricane Michael began to bear down on our Florida landscape. As an artist, I am determined to work for climate justice through my individual and communal actions. I believe that with empathy and compassion, combined with social responsibility, that we can create change, working for a just, sane, healthy world for all.”
Want to learn more about how Little Sun provides communities with clean access to energy? Read more about our mission or consider donating to support one of our many projects bringing solar energy to communities living without electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa.
