Balinese dancer wearing a gas mask: climate change and the tropical imaginary

Inspired by a street art image of a Balinese dancer wearing a gas mask, this paper maps climate change systems and their impacts on the Tropics. Beginning with global expanses of melting ice sheets, it rides the currents of oceanic and atmospheric systems, explores rainforests and coral reefs, wanders the seas of the Indonesian archipelago, until it comes to rest on the island of Bali. Complementing climate science with climate imagination, the paper draws on the classic elements and ecological images of thought to demonstrate tropical imaginary, jungle imaginary and archipelago imaginary as ways for perceiving the complexities of climate change. As it draws to a close, the paper pictures Slinat's street art images, musing on how their Balinese cultural-environmental messages resonate globally and act as a poignant reminder of how humans are implicated within climate change.