Postcards from the Future

Another exhibition of photos but this time instead of depicting the streets of London over the last century and a half, these pictures illustrate what the capital might look like at some unspecified time in the future when climate change has had a significant impact on every aspect of London life.

The pictures were created by Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones who are described as 'future-illustrators with a deep interest in the environment' and the sight of familiar landmarks in very unfamiliar situations is very striking. The picture above is from the artists' blog and shows one of the photos in the exhibition. This one imagines a time when London is, by necessity, self-sufficient in food and Parliament Square has been transformed into rice paddies. The roads appear to be free of traffic and the fields are being ploughed by water-buffalo. It's not clear whether MPs are still sitting in the House of Commons and passing this every day on their way in!

There are several pictures depicting various forms of electricity generation in the capital. Whilst some, such as tidal power stations around the Thames Barrier, and even a wind farm on the Mall (the turbines fit in quite well between the flagpoles) don't look too out of place, I can't imagine the nuclear power station in Kew Gardens going down too well!

Other images show the impact of extreme changes of climate in other countries as refugees from equatorial lands move north when their homelands become uninhabitable. In one The Gherkin has been converted in to high rise housing and is rapidly becoming a slum. In others shanty towns surround Buckingham Palace and cover Trafalgar Square.

The exhibition is thought-provoking and certainly worth seeing for the striking images whatever your views on climate change. However, I felt slightly more explanation might have been helpful in some cases. It wasn't clear to me whether the pictures were all supposed to illustrate different aspects of the same scenario or to show alternative possible outcomes. So, for example, was the picture of flooded London what followed when the frozen Thames pictured elsewhere melted or are these completely separate scenarios. In another example, the explanation for one of the pictures relating to refugees says the global econony has collapsed as a result of devastation in many countries but the text for another picture which shows camels replacing horses on Horse Guards Parade as a result of increasing temperatures suggests that tourism remains important to the London economy.

For a small exhibition - there are around a dozen images in total - this certainly left me with a lot to think about. You can view the images on their blog but I would recommend visiting the exhibition if you can as the full-size versions are much more impressive. It's on in the Olivier Theatre Exhibition Area on Level 1 at the National Theatre until 30 May.