Kiva Stimac: Climate justice now!

Kiva Stimac

Montreal, Quebec

Printmaker, artist, entrepreneur, activist, mother, lover of birds and rocks.

When the David Suzuki Foundation approached me to create this image, it was a transformative time in my life and also in the life of the planet, as we are being warned by scientists that we are passing tipping points. COVID-19 has also kept us separate and alienated, afraid and heartbroken for this Earth and all life on it.

I think the immediacy of the need for transformative change, not just personally but globally, is paramount and interconnected. With the idea that climate justice is still “in our hands,” I created this image of a hand holding a bouquet of a piece of a meadow that I live with and observed over the summer. Watching this little slice of nature and humanity interact I could see a path to healing and justice that is rooted not just in transformative change but in love and equality for all.

I included native and invasive species, as well as the barbed wire of agricultural fencing and the roots and mycelium systems and microbial necromass underneath. I represented the tension between the need for hope to rally millions and the reality of the dread of the loss of a stable climate and the fear of the end of humanity. The roots of this discord in the global systems of capitalism, racism and patriarchy are represented in the tattoo and the uprising fist.

With this artwork, I send out love, healing and a cry to rise and change!

Kiva Stimac

The printmaking processes I used to create this image are considered relief printing, where a raised image is put in a press, hand-carved from linoleum and using vintage movable wood type, and then inked and transferred to paper. It is a visceral handmade and time-consuming process that in itself is meditative and involves a lot of problem-solving without screens.