ABSTRACT
When most people think of the metal mercury, they probably think rst of thermometers-not art. Yet as Justin Jesty argues in The Minamata Documentaries of Tsuchimoto Noriaki, lm (itself based on a photographic process that originally used mercury) contributed to exposing the Minamata mercury poisoning and confronted those in power with visible evidence of the tragedy (see Chapter 8). Sydney Plum acknowledges that “the best activist artists represent relationships-between aspects of the natural world, human individuals, and human culture-in such a way as to draw listeners to the cause of sustainable and harmonious lives” (see Chapter 10). Rachel Carson’s metaphor of a silent spring bridges a gap between her knowledge as a biologist and nonscientists. Not only lm and writing, but painting, sculpture, photography, and performances provide representations of the environment that bring topics, often sequestered in laboratories or board rooms, to the public spaces of theaters, museums, books, and the great outdoors.
