Stamps Scholar Spotlight: Mary Pedicini '19

 I believe that global warming needs to become a personal problem. We have far and away enough data to know that human behavior is contributing to a real problem, and that we need action now. But facts don’t motivate. In developed western countries it is easy for people to suppress the knowledge of this crisis, liking a Facebook post about saving the polar bears before tossing a plastic water bottle in the trash. I believe that for these people en masse to truly take action, they will have to embrace two truths; that life on our planet is in danger, and that all of it is worth saving.

It is my hope that with art, I can reach farther than facts can. To this end, I am studying the art of storytelling. Through single images, series, artists’ books, comics and animation I aim to confront people with the hard truths they have tried to suppress, and beauties of life on our planet which they may never have considered. My personal passion lies with insects – diverse beyond imagining in form, habitat, behavior, these creatures are endlessly compelling to me. But I think they have a broader relevance here as well. Their group is the only life on this planet which we accept as perfectly worthless. Humans kill farm animals for food. We kill bugs for no reason at all, because to the western mind, a bug’s life is so devoid of value that its end is incomprehensible as a death. So if a person can be made, perhaps through art, to value the life of an insect, I believe they will have found a perspective with the power to fuel the fight for all the life our planet holds.  

More from Mary.