Jeff Livingston

Jeff Livingston

Jeff Livingston
Adolescent Education in English, Senior

Two Degrees

This makeup was inspired by “2 degrees”, a poem by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner and it is a statement on the effect of global warming and pollution on “mother nature.” It might be a little “on the nose” or literal, but I added syringes to my hair to reflect the line “a sewage of syringes and gauze” and I put a thermometer in my mouth to symbolize the “fever” that nature (and in the literal sense, the author’s daughter) has been dealing with. I added bloodied “gauze” to my nose to reflect the mention of gauze in the poem. This makeup was done using actual leaves, twigs and vines from my backyard as “prosthetics.” I painted the leaves with brown makeup to make them look like they had been dehydrated and fried by the sun. My hope is to convey beauty and pain and to highlight the violence of climate change towards mother earth.