In 2020, a report called The Great British Rain Paradox warned of the UK's water scarcity crisis, projected to happen within the next 20 years. The publication stated that while 77% of British survey respondents believe the UK is a ‘wet and rainy country’ and assume there are adequate water reserves, ‘in reality our demand for water could soon outstrip supply’.
In her artwork Rain Paradox, Angela YT Chan presents how official and local discussions of climate change can influence public opinion. She critiques the report’s alignment with government policies that favour capitalist strategies as climate solutions. By doing this, governments and businesses are no longer accountable for their actions. This poses a continued threat to disadvantaged groups who are already disproportionately affected by climate change.
Rain Paradox presents counter-narratives offering different perspectives from community-minded citizens across the UK. Living room conversations explore a variety of water topics including cultural practices, scarcity, borders and migration. Moving between timelines, data, geographies, speculative drawings and water cycles, Rain Paradox archives our present moment in climate history, with a view to revisiting our collective experience in generations to come.
