In contemporary visual culture, images permeate all aspects of global politics, including the contested terrain of transitions toward sustainable futures. Visual representations of ecological degradation—circulating through social media, mass media, and the visual arts—profoundly shape public perceptions of the drivers of environmental crisis, its magnitude, and associated risks. These images also influence which responses are considered plausible, urgent, or necessary for climate mitigation and adaptation in order to avert ecological collapse. While the concept of “sustainability” occupies a central place in international development discourse, its meaning remains ambiguous and politically contested. It varies depending on the actors deploying it, the purposes it serves, and the interests it advances. On the one hand, sustainability can be linked to transformative efforts to reconfigure socio-economic systems within the safe operating space of planetary boundaries. On the other, it can be co-opted to justify green extractivism or greenwashing practices. In this context, critically examining the politics of showing and seeing sustainability transitions has never been more urgent.

This research project investigates the visual narratives of sustainability transitions in Global South contexts. It focuses particularly on energy transitions and decarbonization, the climate-agriculture nexus in food systems, and biodiversity conservation. The project asks: How do visual narratives shape discourses of sustainability, and what are their political implications? How are visual technologies and materials mobilized by state and non-state actors to promote—or resist—infrastructure projects in the name of sustainability? What kinds of political outcomes can visual narratives generate? How do these visual narratives reflect and reproduce a global geopolitics of seeing and showing? And what do prevailing visual representations of sustainability say about the position and future prospects of the Global South within the broader politics of global sustainability transitions?

These questions are situated at the intersection of two key strands of international relations scholarship: visual global politics and the international political economy of the environment. The project is developed within the core research agenda of the Centre for International Studies, School of Politics and Government, National University of San Martin (UNSAM), Argentina.

Period: 2024-2027 | PICT 2022-10-00108 | PIP 11220220100233CO