Postcard from the future

I started off this project by doing some research on the current and predicted situation of Lagos’ climate. The findings were surprising and extremely informative on the other issues which didn’t seem related to climate change. One thing which stood out apart from the fact that the whether was going to become severe  in all parts of Nigeria, was the amount of violence that would result from the shortage of natural resources if no attention was paid to renewable energy. I immediately created a scenario in my head where years into the future, although global warming has begun to destroy the country with extreme heat in the north, and flooding in the south, their is a civil war taking place.

The postcard from the future I made is meant to reflect this and is being sent from a dying civilian who is trying to point out the dangers global warming would ultimately unfold if not paid attention to.

Here are pictures of the process:

I cut the wood to the size I wanted it.

I used different tools to destress the wood so it looks found.

I then burnt the edges to allude to the fact that it was found in a warring state.

       

Tried to add some blood on the back of the card to allude to the war as well.

I didn’t like it so much so I made the paint darker.

The end result was this:

I then laser cut the message on the front to make it look carved in:

Unfortunately the message came out illegible but this is what it read:

“It didn’t get any better. The north thirsts for the water that floods the south. You would think people would see this as a sign t come together, but no. The shortage in our natural resources, especially crude oil, has caused the people to become greedy. The people of Niger Delta live in the center of a war zone which slowly spreads to the rest of the cou-”

I left the letter unfinished for the sake of suspense.

Sources:

Impact of Climate Change on Sub-Sahara Africa : Case Studies in Cameroon, Nigeria and Uganda. Frankfurt am Main, DE: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2014. Accessed March 9, 2017. ProQuest ebrary.