About Two Degrees

Background

In 2019, The Other Film Festival collaborated with The Wheeler Centre to present the panel ‘Leading the Charge: Climate Change, Disability and Storytelling’ (watch/listen here). Several compelling points were raised in that discussion, but they all boiled down to this stark fact: if our path and pace remain the same, our world will be faced with climate collapse, and such a world is just not accessible.

Between that time and now, Australia grappled with two significant events: the summer 2019–2020 bushfires, which devastated both land and living creatures; and the global COVID-19 pandemic, the ramifications of which we’re experiencing to this day. As we head into another summer, a new year, a new decade, the team at TOFF felt compelled to ask: What would our future be like if Deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent individuals led the way? What sorts of conversations would be had? What problems, missed by non-disabled people, would be identified, and what solutions would be posed? And, most importantly, how could we empower our community to get these messages across?

Two Degrees is our contribution, however humble, to this necessary about-face; it is us taking the ship’s wheel and steering towards a different direction. The series brings together a number of artforms – writing, performance, film, sound, multimedia – and features 14 incredible, insightful artists and collectives, each with their own take on climate change. But whether comical or serious, abstract or literal, these creations are united by the understanding that art and storytelling are powerful tools for education, inspiration and action.

Who’s on the line-up?

The series’ featured artists are Abbie Madden, Ana Maria Gomides, CB Mako, Diimpa, Echo Collective, Erin Kyan, Inkrewsive, Jonathon Goodfellow, Nemeses, Ramas McRae, Sarah Firth, Shakira Hussein, Walter Kadiki and Way Out West.

Why the name ‘Two Degrees’?

The answer is two-pronged. On the one hand, it references the two-degree-Celsius cap for global temperature rise, as agreed by scientists, think tanks and government (learn more about this via NASA or the Climate Council of Australia). On the other, it affirms TOFF’s commitment to connect the wider community with Deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent artists – so, that old chestnut ‘six degrees of separation’, but dropped down to two.

Curator and Producer: Adolfo Aranjuez
Designer: Elwyn Murray
Special thanks: Fiona Tuomy (Artistic Director, TOFF), Nikki Zerella (Director, Arts Services, AAV), Alec Downs and Kevin Geldard (Red Bee Media), Gaelle Mellis, the staff at AAV (especially Geoff Robinson, Phil Noack, Pilar Ruperti and Sabina Knox), Chloe Connolly and Philip Heuzenroeder (Wild At Heart), Hiroki Kobayashi (The Wheeler Centre), Mia Falstein-Rush, Leah Jing McIntosh, Dom Butler, and Eloisa, Elysse and Anton Aranjuez