2"Nothing new under the sun ?
Environmental degradation has long been a major factor driving migration worldwide. Population vulnerability to natural hazards is not a recent phenomenon.
Brueghel de Velours (so-called), Jan Brueghel I (1568–1625)
© GrandPalaisRmn-Thierry Ollivier
The first section of the exhibition places climate-related migration in a long-term historical perspective. It presents several historical examples of human and non-human movements driven by environmental factors. Indeed, in the face of such crises, migration has often been the most effective means of survival.
These migrations have left traces that are displayed here in all their diversity: prehistoric hunting points illustrating how hunter-gatherer communities in Savoy adapted to changing climatic conditions; ritual objects intended to ward off severe weather; tools associated with Alpine transhumance; as well as historical and contemporary artworks that testify to the enduring dialogue between humans and the forces of nature.
A jar of pickles, a few sugar cubes, a game of Happy Families, and a small red radio. These are the supplies hastily gathered by Clarisse’s father, as the family home, battered by fierce winds, is about to be swept away. These objects invite every young reader to ask themselves: what would I take with me if I had to leave?
In "La Tempête", author Florence Seyvos uses a devastating storm to explore themes of shelter and children’s appetite for adventure. Despite the imminent destruction of her home, Clarisse is not afraid. Her curiosity, together with the tenderness of her parents, seems to dispel any sense of fear. Claude Ponti, who created the book’s dark and richly detailed illustrations, argues that there is little point in constructing a literary world for children that is detached from the realities of life. “It is better for children to know that certain things exist, and that they can be overcome,” he explains.
When the storm finally passes, Clarisse and her parents, gathered together in a cosy bed transformed into a raft-cabin, set off on a journey, one they did not choose, but one they face without anxiety.
Olivier Bedoin, exhibition catalogue, Migrations & climat. Comment habiter notre monde ?, 2025, p. 42-43.
« La Tempête », 1995 - Florence Seyvos (textes) et Claude Ponti (illustrations)
© L'École des loisirs
However, population movements driven by climate change do not constitute a distinct category of migration, but are often intertwined with other causes : economic, social, or political. Since the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, these phenomena have accelerated, generating new waves of migration, as illustrated by the Irish famine caused by potato blight (1845–1852), or the American Dust Bowl droughts of the 1930s.
Dialoguing with nature
Legende
Statuette anthropomorphe
Credit
© musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn Michel Urtado Thierry Ollivier
Dependent on their environment for survival, humans have constantly sought to understand and control climatic events, either to protect themselves from them or to take advantage of them. Calling for rain, protecting crops from bad weather, safeguarding homes from wildfires caused by lightning, or sparing land from the giant waves of tsunamis : forms of intercession are as varied as they are numerous.
Across time and cultures, objects and rituals have been created to address the forces of nature. Even today, despite advances in meteorological science, which produce increasingly precise and wide-ranging knowledge, such beliefs are still mobilised to make sense of the inexplicable and to sustain the hope of influencing the elements.
Animal migration and climate
Migration is intrinsic to the very existence of living species. Every species originates from a group of individuals that has either adapted to a new environment or moved in order to survive. When the climate changes, species capable of movement quickly seek out more hospitable areas.
Some migrations, such as those of migratory birds, the monarch butterfly, humpback whales, or East African wildebeest, are encoded in their genes. These species move each year in search of better conditions for feeding or reproduction, before returning to their starting point. This is often a round trip repeated annually, sometimes mirrored by human practices, such as transhumance, which allows livestock to be fed more effectively.
For more than a decade, I have been photographing the Inupiat, Gwich’in, and Inuvialuit communities on the front lines of the climate crisis in Alaska and Canada, exploring how climate change is transforming the relationship between humans, animals, and the land. Since 2020, this work has focused primarily on an environmental disaster that is both urgent and largely overlooked.
Arctic caribou populations have undergone a shocking decline, falling from around five million to approximately two million animals. There has been no loss of large terrestrial mammals on such a scale in such a short period since the disappearance of the American bison. This devastating loss threatens not only the fragile, interconnected Arctic ecosystem, but also the food security, spiritual practices, and cultural history of Indigenous communities who have depended on caribou for thousands of years, such as the Nunamiut community of Anaktuvuk Pass in Alaska, shown here. “Anaktuvuk” translates as “the place of many caribou droppings,” and this community lies along the traditional migratory routes of the Western Arctic and Teshekpuk caribou herds.
The caribou is the lifeblood of the Arctic. Each year, it travels up to 1,000 miles (1,610 km) as part of the longest terrestrial migration on Earth. Along the way, it feeds everything: wolves, bears, foxes, falcons, and tundra mice. Their grazing shapes young trees, and their hooves turn over the soil. Elders speak of them as if they were a primordial force of nature.
Katie Orlinsky, exhibition catalogue, Migrations & climat. Comment habiter notre monde ?, 2025, p. 60-61.
« Vanishing Caribou » - Des caribous, ou « tutu » en inupiaq, traversent le cœur enneigé de la chaîne de Brooks, en Alaska.
© Katie Orlinsky
Le climat, un facteur de migration parmi d’autres
Dans l’histoire, le climat est rarement apparu comme la cause unique de migrations humaines. Il se combine souvent à d’autres facteurs, comme des crises politiques ou sociales. En Irlande, entre 1845 et 1852, le mildiou ravage les cultures de pommes de terre, base de l’alimentation rurale. Le climat humide favorise sa propagation, et l’inaction des autorités britanniques transforme la crise en grande famine. Plus de 1,5 million d’Irlandais prennent le chemin de l’exil.
Dans les années 1930, aux États-Unis, des sécheresses exceptionnelles frappent les terres agricoles des grandes plaines du Sud. Du fait des pratiques agricoles mécanisées, les sols exposés sont friables. Le vent soulève d’immenses nuages de poussière, le Dust Bowl, qui contraignent des milliers de familles à tout abandonner et à fuir vers la Californie.
Dorothea Lange, « Migrant Mother », 1936
© Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. USA
Climate as one factor among others in migration
Legende
Dorothea Lange, « Migrant Mother », 1936
Credit
© Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. USA
Throughout history, climate has rarely appeared as the sole cause of human migration. It is often combined with other factors, such as political or social crises. In Ireland, between 1845 and 1852, potato blight devastated crops, which formed the basis of the rural diet. Humid climatic conditions facilitated its spread, and the inaction of British authorities turned the crisis into a major famine. More than 1.5 million Irish people were forced into exile.
In the 1930s in the United States, exceptional droughts struck the agricultural lands of the southern Great Plains. Mechanised farming practices left exposed soils highly vulnerable. Strong winds lifted vast clouds of dust, known as the Dust Bowl, forcing thousands of families to abandon everything and flee to California.
Alexandre Hogue, « Les rescapés de la sécheresse », 1936.
Blérancourt, musée franco-américain du château de Blérancourt © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Christian Bahier, Philippe Migeat
In 1934, 1936, and again in 1939–1940, three exceptional droughts struck the Southern Plains of the United States, a region spanning the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Arkansas. Combined with the expansion of mechanised agricultural practices ill-suited to these arid zones, the phenomenon, known as the Dust Bowl, triggered devastating dust storms. In addition, the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression further worsened the situation for farmers, pushing nearly 2.5 million people to migrate westward in search of better prospects.
This is one of the earliest examples of a climatic disaster amplified by human activity and economic crisis. The trauma it caused inspired not only compassion but also anger among artists across disciplines. At the forefront, John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath in 1939, which tells the story of the painful exodus of a poor tenant farming family from Oklahoma. The novel was faithfully adapted for the screen the following year by John Ford, with the character Tom Joad portrayed by the unforgettable Henry Fonda.
Living in Texas, painter Alexandre Hogue frequently travelled to the Southern Plains during the 1930s and owes much of his recognition to his desolate landscapes of the Dust Bowl. Meanwhile, the famous folk singer Woody Guthrie devoted an entire album to this social and ecological tragedy (Dust Bowl Ballads, 1940).
Bruno Girveau, exhibition catalogue Migrations & climat. Comment habiter notre monde ?, 2025, p. 74-75.
