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Note: This article is from Conservation Magazine, the precursor to Anthropocene Magazine. The full 14-year Conservation Magazine archive is now available here.

Batik Earth

December 5, 2011

Mary Edna Fraser uses the ancient technique of batik to illustrate landscapes around the world that are most vulnerable to climate change. Her recent work adorns Global Climate Change: A Primer by Orrin and Keith Pilkey.

Batik is a wax-resistant fabric-dyeing technique. Fraser pencils her designs onto silk, then applies multiple layers of wax and dye to create depth. She models her work on maps, satellite images, and her own aerial photographs. (She is also a pilot and flies her family’s vintage 1946 Ercoupe over the eastern seaboard of the U.S.)

Learn more about Fraser’s work

Images ©Mary Edna Fraser

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