Last Turn—Our Turn

In 1992, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the Earth Summit, pledging to “make Earth a secure and hospitable home for present and future generations.” Those words appeared at the top of Last Turn–Your Turn, the official artwork for the event produced by Robert Rauschenberg. The first print was sent to President George H. W. Bush to convince him to attend the summit (which he ultimately did), while accompanying works were displayed across the United States, prompting American citizens to understand and take responsibility for the impending threat of the climate crisis.

That meeting marked the beginning of the annual United Nations climate negotiations. Thirty years later, the world is gathering in Brazil once again for COP30 — this time in the Amazon, after decades of talks that have yet to deliver the future once promised. These negotiations will unfold within a largely decultured climate movement, one that has sidelined artists in favor of policymakers and scientists. By losing culture’s unique ability to shape the collective imagination, the environmental movement has remained elitist and ineffective, even as the consequences of the climate crisis have become ever clearer.

Last Turn–Our Turn is a five-poster series by Brazilian craftsman Marcos Mellos, inspired by Rauschenberg’s trailblazing work. Where Rauschenberg championed individual responsibility, however, Mellos repositions the narrative toward collective action, reflecting the COP30 Presidency’s call for a Global Mutirão: a unified commitment to confront the climate crisis. Building on residency research conducted by Geographer's Russell Reed at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in New York, the posters juxtapose the threats facing the Amazon with the colorful resistance movement fighting to protect it, utilizing extensive archival imagery and found materials. Exhibited at the COP30 negotiations and throughout Brazil, the series embodies its own title, promoting “our” collective environmental movement by bringing culture back to the table.