Ground Truth is a moving image work that explores ecological and cultural realities surrounding aridity. Set on the island of Cyprus, where anthropogenic climate change is accelerating desertification, the film investigates the resonances between scientific monitoring and future climate modelling and their infrastructural and material affordances. The term “ground truth” refers to direct, real-world measurements and observations used to verify the accuracy of remote sensing data, models and predictions.

The work reflects on the impacts and possibilities of the ongoing “datafication” of planetary phenomena. It proposes recentring the body’s environmental literacy as a fundamental part of the planetary sensorium. Can a leaf be understood as a living, sensing apparatus in shifting ecologies? Through fieldwork, interviews and environmental monitoring, the work proposes an alternative climate narrative that’s indistinguishable from geopolitical tensions across the island.

This research-driven visual essay expands an interdisciplinary territorial analysis that intersects with histories of colonial infrastructural transformation of the island’s resources and current land practices.