We Tried to Warn You! Environmental Crisis Posters, 1970–2020

After receiving an unprecedented amount of positive feedback from both visitors and the press, Poster House is pleased to offer an condensed extension of this much-lauded exhibition. For information about the original iteration of the show, please see its landing page.   

Every poster in this exhibition is a failure—not in the sense that they failed in their graphic intent of communicating a message, but rather that they failed to successfully modify behavior. Almost all of the environmental issues showcased in these posters remain or have worsened.

Nevertheless, these impactful images have shaped the bounds of public debate on environmental issues, drawing attention to distinct and particular concerns. While these highlighted narratives have increased the visibility of environmental crises, they have historically masked systemic causes of these problems and ignored structural inequalities. They have also relied heavily on a clear visual culture associated with most environmental poster messaging—what one critic labeled “gas masks and honeybees”—creating a graphic sameness regardless of country or issue.

This exhibition avoids these tropes, charting a global history of environmental activism through posters, ranging in style from whimsical to apocalyptic.

Tim Medland is an independent curator who focuses on the history of visual and material culture. He holds an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, with a concentration in socially engaged practice. His research interests include environmental activism and sustainability, and the histories of transport, propaganda, colonialism, and migration.