Indigenous responses to climate change for COP26 – visit TOTEM LATAMAT as it tours the UK

Jun Tiburcio with Totem Latamat
Photo: Salomón Bazbaz Lapidus

In the lead-up to the 26^th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow this November, OU Professor of Religious Studies Graham Harvey has partnered with Border Crossings' ORIGINS Festival to engage with TOTEM LATAMAT. The totem was commissioned by ORIGINS from Indigenous Mexican artist Jun Tiburcio. With close links to Professor Harvey’s long-term research into animism, the totem encapsulates Totonac ideas about the environment, represents indigenous cultures, and commemorates extinct species. COVID-19 travel restrictions have limited the opportunities for Indigenous people to participate in COP26, and so the journey of TOTEM LATAMAT - carved from a single tree in Mexico and transported across the Atlantic Ocean to travel from London to Glasgow - is hugely important. With 80% of the world's biodiversity on Indigenous land, these communities truly understand sustainable living. After COP26, the totem will be transported to Dumfries where it will remain at The Crichton to disintegrate naturally.

Discover more about the totem on the ORIGINS website.

Here are the dates and locations you can visit the totem on its journey:

Jun Tiburcio with Totem Latamat
Photo: Salomón Bazbaz Lapidus

• Thursday 30 September – Tuesday 5 October
  Chiswick House, Chiswick, London
• Tuesday 5 – Monday 11 October
  Station Square, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
• Monday 11 – Thursday 14 October
  Fountain Square, Enfield Town, Middlesex  
• Thursday 14 – Monday 18 October
  Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry
• Monday 18 – Thursday 21 October
  The Rollright Stones, Little Rollright, Oxfordshire 
• Thursday 21 – Sunday 24 October
  Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Manchester
• Sunday 24 – Wednesday 27 October
  Hexham Abbey, Hexham, Northumberland
• Wednesday 27 October – Sunday 14 November
  The Hidden Gardens, Glasgow
• From Sunday 14 November
  The Crichton, Dumfries (Return to Earth ceremony date to be confirmed)