This installation piece was created by ClimateChangesArt artist Kevin Buckland for the Warwick Summer Arts Festival. As part of a town-wide exhibit, local artists were given donated mannequins to paint, decorate and place around Warwick, New York. This piece, Gaia, is named for the Greek earth goddess and functions as a monument to human interaction and abuse of our planet. With text, constellations and ancient greek words collaged across her body, Gaia reaches her hand out to passerbys, urging them to walk with her. “Hope” is written in gold across her palm.

The project also refers to the Gaia Hypothesis, a term first coined by James Lovelock. This hypothesis conceives of the entire planet as a single functioning organism, with every process interdependent with everything else. The rainforests become the lungs, the rivers the veins, and humans become the mind.