As extinction crises become an increased focus of contemporary environmental conversations, creative projects that engage with stories of loss have emerged as a visible fixture of the cultural and creative landscape. This invites the question of what role creativity might play in shaping public action around extinction events. In answering this question, this lecture draws on research with creative practitioners who have produced bee- inspired creative works, marrying an exploration of creative outcome with that of creative intent. Through this examination, this lecture will explore how creative projects can simultaneously bear witness to extinction stories, pose challenging questions, engage an increased diversity of voice and experience in extinction narratives, and marry the telling of extinction stories with tangible action. This lecture will fundamentally argue that creative explorations are well-placed to engage in the world as forms of intervention, interrupting people’s relationship to extinction crises and serving as a catalyst for change.

Rosamund Portus is a research fellow at UWE Bristol, where she is working on a project examining young people’s agency in the climate crisis. Her recent PhD research considered the social and cultural dimensions of the ongoing loss of bees, with a particular focus on creative responses to the bee decline. Rosamund also works as an artist and has recently been selected to exhibit a project as part of the COP26 Reimagining Museums for Climate Action Exhibition in Glasgow.