At this moment — when the need to bring public awareness to the crisis of global climate change has never been greater — the students of Fordham University are pleased to present Art for Arctic’s Sake, an exhibition that calls attention to the profound impact climate change is having upon the sensitive ecosystem of the Arctic and the communities that rely upon the region’s natural resources. For many of us, the Arctic remains abstract and distant, but the work of the artists in this exhibition brings the Arctic and the disconcerting changes taking place there to our immediate attention, revealing the epic scale of global interconnectedness.

At the same time, Art for Arctic’s Sake is a testament to the power of art to effect change. The doctrine of ‘art for art’s sake,’ in which art focused on its own formal practices, has led, over time, to its disenfranchisement, separating it from its social environment. In a deliberate reversal of this movement, a growing number of artists have adopted socially engaged artistic practices and many have taken on the role of stewardship of the environment. In some instances, their work has directly contributed to environmental reform and social change. Art can change attitudes towards the environment by imaging more sustainable and ethical habits of human action and thought.