Horizon Rising

“Our planet’s systems are being pushed beyond their limits: the health of its water, air and soils under siege. From deforestation and soil erosion, to pollution of rivers, oceans and the air we breathe, our planetary health is waning badly. Climate change is the biggest threat-multiplier of them all. Sea rise is now a very real threat to millions.”

— Prof. Dave Reay

At the start of 2019, Rising Horizon was exhibited at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh. The show was well received and the project has continued. The paintings – which discuss the topic of sea-level rise – are now on shown in North Uist, at Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, to introduce Scotland’s Year of Coasts & Waters.

Titled Horizon Rising, this new instalment in the series is of particular relevance to North Uist and Taigh Chearsabhagh. The horizon is no far-off or distant concern for coastal communities such as Uist and the Outer Hebrides. These low-lying islands will be impacted by rising water levels sooner than most.

Read below texts written on the series to mark its launch in 2019 by professor Dave Reay of Edinburgh University’s School of Geosciences and by oceanographer John Englander. Also see a short film by Taigh Chearsabhagh’s Andy Mackinnon, shot during and after Storm Brendan.

Film by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre + Uistfilm

“On the land, vast swathes of natural forest have been felled and their soils ploughed up. The carbon released has joined that from fossil burning in a smothering heat blanket encircling the globe. This hotter atmosphere super-charges the water cycle, bringing devastating flash floods in one place just as it saps away moisture and bakes earth into dust in another.

Across the oceans, sea levels are rising. Expansion of the warming waters combines with ever more ice melt from land to endanger millions around the world. Each notch higher on the global thermometer means a step closer to the irreversible loss of the ice sheets.

Climate change threatens the health of all planetary systems, its plants, its animals, and us too. Global carbon emissions must now fall to zero by the middle of this century. In the Paris Climate Agreement the nations of the world have plotted a route map to get there. Travelling that road will be the greatest undertaking in human history.

At the core of planetary health is sustainability. Sustainable use of Earth’s resources, knowledge of and respect for its boundaries. David’s work embodies all of this.

The rising horizon is a very real threat to millions of people, yet in his beautiful and inspired repurposing and reuse of materials David illuminates an alternative future. A future where the products we consume have lives beyond landfill sites. A future where resources are part of a circular economy, one that recognises their value and the true cost of their waste.

The horizon is rising. Just how far is now down to us.”

— Prof. Dave Reay, 2019

“We look to the horizon to gain perspective: to see what might be coming towards us; to gauge changing weather conditions. The straight line of the horizon is our most basic point of reference, giving us our bearings and supporting our sense of balance. Our perspective changes as our gaze shifts. Above is the sky, the atmosphere and the universe beyond. In the case of this exhibition, below lies only sea.

Over the horizon is the world of things out of sight, both tempting and treacherous. Faraway places and cultures capable of broadening an inner horizon, or a tsunami, a mighty wave that barely shows in open ocean.

The notion of a rising horizon is both evocative and timely. Sea level is rising. This new global phenomenon needs our attention. While the height of the ocean has an ambiguous visual impact on the horizon, it has a dramatic effect on the coastline. The rising sea will submerge land – our most defining physical asset. This will alter nearly all beaches but will have even greater impact as it expands marshlands and alters the contours of waterways and rivers that connect to the sea. It will take decades for the effect to be noticeable on most maps, though certainly it will.

Ever worsening events of flooding are being witnessed worldwide. While many may think of the Maldives or Miami in terms of vulnerability, flooding will also eat away at Scotland’s coastline. The stunning reality of rising sea level is that all coastal communities will be affected, both large cities and rural areas – some ten thousand or more.

Cass’s paintings creatively pose a rising horizon from dozens of diverse perspectives, upon a variety of supports: they are bold paintings, often deliberately exaggerated. Despite appearing to be playful in form, many act as a kind of miniature ice-pick to the brain – raising awareness – whilst in their more extreme form cast judgement on how this came to be.

For the last half-century we have all been privileged to see the Earth from the viewpoint of satellites. Such remarkable imagery has transformed our perception of this ocean planet. Over the next half-century there will be noticeable changes to many areas as the rising sea permanently alters the land-sea boundary. Though far from a straight line, the shoreline may be the most important line in the world.

We are in an unprecedented new era and need to see the reality that comes from looking at science without prejudice or preconception. Art is a vital tool to disseminate this message and to provoke thought and action about the real world in which we live.”

— Oceanographer John Englander