WHEN BOB DYLAN wrote the song A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fallnearly half a century ago, the threat of destruction through nuclear war loomed large. But his lyrics about dead oceans, sad forests, poverty and starvation are just as applicable today as we face the fallout of unsustainable living and climate change, writes Claire O'Connell..
That fallout is the subject of Hard Rain, an exhibition which opens today at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin. Its 50-metre long display of photographs depicts striking and often disturbing images of habitat loss and suffering.
"It gives a very strong message about what we are doing to the environment around the world, and the need for everyone to be aware," says Dr Peter Wyse Jackson, director of the gardens, who has brought the exhibition to Dublin.
The project is the brainchild of photographer Mark Edwards, who heard Dylan's song when he was rescued by a Tuareg nomad in the Sahara desert in 1969. He set about gathering photographs to depict each line of the lyric. The resulting exhibition has visited key sites around the world, including the Eden project in Cornwall, England. Dr Wyse Jackson feels that displaying the exhibition in the arboretum at Glasnevin will give it a particular resonance for Ireland, because most of our native oak woodland has already been lost.
"The overall message is that we can't sit on our hands and do nothing - the future of the world is in our own hands," he says. "I know that sounds trite, but we have to do something which will make sure that each one of us leaves the planet a better place than we found it. And we can each do a lot by being aware, and by managing our own lives to the best of our ability."
And while many of the pictures are unsettling, Dr Wyse Jackson picks out the ones that point to a way forward. "I like the images that show [that] although things are bad we have hope. We wouldn't be doing any of this environmental work if we didn't think we could turn it around," he says.
For the next couple of weeks in Glasnevin, you can also catch another exhibition about biodiversity conservation. This one celebrates the International Year of the Potato and looks at the humble spud's past, its present uses and variety. As well as the more conventional fare, it also includes unusual items such as biodegradable plates and utensils made from potato starch, and offers a list of non-edible uses for potatoes, including beauty applications and safely removing a broken lightbulb.
Hard Rain opens today at 3pm in the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin 11 and runs until the end of August. Admission is free. The exhibition's accompanying book will be on sale at the gardens, price €12