Franke James: Artist, Writer, Environmentalist
One of the great things about writing for this blog has been making connections with like-minded individuals – people with whom we might never have interacted otherwise.
We received a cool email this morning from Toronto artist Franke James, saying hello and encouraging us to take a look at one of her essays (which has been featured in the Toronto Star and WorldChanging).
To be honest, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I tend to have a negative association with the word ‘essay’ 
(and I somehow missed the adjective ‘visual’ when I first read the email), but I figured if WorldChanging had written about it, it must be pretty interesting.
Franke James’ visual essay is called “A Green Winter: Will Global Warming Be Good For Canada?” and I must say it really put a smile on my face when I read it.
As mentioned, I missed the word “visual” in Franke’s email, so I was somewhat taken aback when I found a series of cartoonish images and photos with writing all over them, but the presentation totally sucked me in. I was completely hooked until the very end (can’t remember the last time I said that about an ‘essay’).
There is something utterly ‘human’ about James’ presentation – it had an innocent, child-like quality that reminded me of the journals we used to keep in public school, combined with a more serious adult perspective on global climate change. I also really enjoyed the dry humour throughout.
I’ve included the first couple slides below, but be sure to check out Franke’s site (follow the link above) for the full piece.
In case you’re interested in learning a little more about Franke James, here is an exerpt from her bio page:
Working at the intersection of art, technology and advertising, Franke James, is a Canadian artist and writer committed to bringing awareness to global warming. She has a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Victoria, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University. James interactive artwork has won numerous awards and been featured on CBC, CTV, Global News, iVillage, USA Today, AOL, Yahoo and others.
Technorati Tags: global warming, worldchanging, franke james, toronto, visual essays, climate change, greenhouse gases, el nino, environtmentalist
Written by Bentley on February 12th, 2007 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Green Commentary and Interesting & Notable.
- [+] Digg: Feature this article
- [+] Del.icio.us: Bookmark this article
- [+] Furl: Bookmark this article
