Kids communicating climate change: learning from the visual language of the SchoolStrike4Climate protests

Communicating urgency through humor: School Strike 4 Climate protest placards

“…Protestors also used humor to creatively confront actors on the opposing side of their agenda, seeking to distance and critique the actions or inaction of environmental policy stakeholders. It is also important to note the protest setting these placards exist in: this humorous effect is potentially compounded by the repetition of similar climate messages, which can strengthen their ability to influence audience perspectives on climate change [Catanzaro & Collin, 2021;Wang, Corner, Chapman & Markowitz, 2018]. Placards are material traces of sense-making practices; they represent empirical evidence of how young protesters make sense of our looming ecological disaster.…”

“…The School Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) Australia is a movement of youth protestors who skip Friday classes to partake in climate change activism, as an example of a bottom-up public coming together around an issue that's important to them [see Marres, 2005]. Evolving from the original Fridays For Future (or Skolstrejk för Klimatet), started by then-16 year old Greta Thunberg in 2018, SS4C participants often use visual media -including humorous placards -to demonstrate their views and demands [Catanzaro & Collin, 2021]. School Strike 4 Climate research has flourished since the immense growth of the movement began in 2019, and researchers have explored the strikes via a wide number of data sources.…”

“…The present paper takes a similar approach building primarily on the work of Catanzaro and Collin [2021] who examined youth climate discourse via the vast array of placards seen at a SS4C event in Sydney, Australia. Through semiotic analysis of 652 photographs, Catanzaro and Collin [2021] explored textual, visual and design elements of placards at the Sydney September 2019 rally.…”

“…The present paper takes a similar approach building primarily on the work of Catanzaro and Collin [2021] who examined youth climate discourse via the vast array of placards seen at a SS4C event in Sydney, Australia. Through semiotic analysis of 652 photographs, Catanzaro and Collin [2021] explored textual, visual and design elements of placards at the Sydney September 2019 rally. Their work -which positions protest placards within the framework of visual, creative and collaborative methods in teaching and learning (as a means of co-creating climate change education) -uncovers three dominant visual modes within the environmental messaging in the signage at SS4C in Sydney: creativity, emotion and temporality.…”

Reflections on the Visual Language Expression in the Cultural Communication of the Silk Road

“…These buildings not only demonstrate the exchange and integration between different cultures but also reflect the architectural style and technological level at that time. For example, the murals and architecture in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang not only show the prosperity of Buddhist art in the Tang Dynasty, but also embody the architectural technology and design concepts of that time [2].…”