Eco-empathy: a photographic exploration of solastalgia.

Eco-empathy is a photographic series by Michelle Ferreira that explores an emotional response to global ecological decline, focusing on solastalgia—also known as climate
anxiety—a pressing contemporary mental health issue. Through a series of circular lenticular prints and double exposure techniques, the project presents a personal and shared narrative with her daughter across familial sites impacted by climate change.
This research-led body of work reflects the interconnectedness between humans and nature, promotes photography as an agency for climate consciousness, and considers the dualities between fragility and resilience; sustainability and decline; frustration and hope. Solastalgia is the driving force behind the project—a psychological response to the loss of ecosystems, biodiversity, and place. It evokes a range of emotions including despair, depression, guilt, paralysis, melancholy, and anxiety—feelings that can often be overwhelming.

Through performative and staged portrait methodologies, Michelle and her daughter explore their lived experience of climate grief. While solastalgia suggests negative emotions, their collaborative process is grounded in empathy and hope—a gesture of care toward the natural world. By embracing this connection, the project asks whether grief might become a catalyst for meaningful engagement.

The title Eco-empathy references gestures of compassion toward the environment as a mindful and creative response to eco-anxiety. She uses photography to engage with environmental crisis on an emotional level, offering a counterpoint to the overwhelming nature of scientific discourse. Rather than turning away, her images encourage emotional connection and reflection. They explore the relevance of human relationships with nature as a powerful vehicle for empathy—offering a space to notice, to feel, and to imagine a more conscious and connected future.

Strange Air, 2025.

The 5-year anniversary of the Melbourne COVID-19 lockdowns began as of March, 2025. Upon reflection, the time dilation of 2020 and 2021 continues to feel like an incoherent
dream sequence, stitched together by moments of haze. Even today, it conjures the ambiguity of an atmosphere of isolation, restriction, and uncertainty. For many, the physical and emotional confinement was a heavy burden, amplifying the sense of disconnection. Yet, within these boundaries, the suburban landscape of Melbourne itself became a paradoxical comfort.

The absence of human interference allowed nature to reclaim its presence. Daily walks through urban streets and parks offered moments of peace and clarity against the backdrop of a chaotic world. As restrictions became stifling physically, the attention to the outdoor landscape grew significantly within the context of curfews and the ‘5km-radius bubble’ restrictions. Time slowed, and we were made to deliberate on our connection with the landscape we inhabited.

When revisiting a small collection of photographs captured during this period, a body of work surfaced. Strange Air, 2025 is a personal reflection of a definitive era of time obscured by banal routine and emotional unrest. This series ruminates on the peculiarity and internal experience of the Melburnian Covid-19 lockdowns, and acts as a reminder of the solace the suburban landscapes offered throughout the instability of the global pandemic.

About the Artist – Michelle Ferreira

Michelle Ferreira is an Australian-based photographer who graduated with a Master of Photography from RMIT University. Her work blends documentary, surreal, and abstract landscapes to explore the emotional connection between humans and nature, capturing both its obvious and unassuming beauty.

Michelle’s photography has been exhibited internationally, including in Australia, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, and New York. Her work has appeared in exhibitions such as CLIMARTE Gallery (2023), Pingyao International Photography Festival 2022 and Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2020. She was awarded the Creative Climate Awards 2023 (New York) and the Head On Landscape Award 2024 (Sydney). Michelle recently completed an artist residency at RMIT University as part of the RMIT Culture Graduate Residency.

About the Artist – Anna Kiparis

Anna Kiparis was born and raised in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia to migrants from northern Greece, and has completed a Master of Photography at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Her artistic and professional journey began in documentary analogue photography and has continued into the digital realm, where her work features explorations of surreal landscapes in suburbia, and the inhabitants of those places. Her practice has re-commenced engagement with tactile materiality, through analogue practices, predominantly against the backdrop of place and internal rationality. Photography is not just a tool for documentation, but critical inquiry, storytelling, and sometimes abstraction. Her process is currently expanding into obstructing imagery with human interventions interspersed with real-world materials such as muddied waters, debris and degenerative chemistry to interplay with imperfect outcomes.

Through her practice, Anna has been shortlisted for prestigious awards such as the National Photographic Portrait Prize in 2021, Footscray Art Prize in 2023, 2021 and 2019, Banyule Works on Paper in 2021, Darebin Art Prize in 2021, Noel Counihan Commemorative Art Award in 2020 and 2021, Wyndham Art Prize in 2020, and the Emerging Artist Award (fortyfivedownstairs) in 2021. Her work is part of permanent collections of the Maribyrnong City Council, Merri-bek City Council, along with several private collections in Australia.