Introduction
Art, in its various forms – visual, literary, performative – plays an important role in ecocriticism. It lends a powerful voice, we hope, to the invalidation of the Anthropocene. Its various forms represent different modes of thought expression, which can be at once beautiful as well as dystrophic, gently persuasive as well as despotic. They can be as emphatic and urgent like a propaganda, a manisfesto, a sermon; or can be as meditative and empathetic as a love poem, a watercolour, or a symphony. All are capable of evoking soulful ecological thoughts in an individual, or exhorting a sense of ecological duty in politicians and captains of societies.
The concept of E-Cart is simple: An Ecological Collection of art – treasures comprised of subjects and objects that ecologists are passionate about.
The following chapters represent my own learning journey in the Reading Natures. After the introduction, the first chapter is a parody of humanism articulated through a painting, to critique the anthropocentric unitary self who tries to look beyond the darkness that entraps him to search for meanings in the outer margin of the cosmos. But this view is blinkered nevertheless, unlike those of insects which are more inclusive and panoramic. This will be followed by chapters on poetry, ceramics, sculptures, essays and music before a final reflection in the epilogue, which, however, is by no means the end of my personal ecological journey.
