Can the Himalayas Speak? Firework Art, Marketing and Posthuman Ethics of Nature

What the paper says

Mountains are increasingly drawn into the circuits of global art, branding and tourism, yet their fragile ecologies and cultural meanings raise pressing ethical questions. This commentary engages with debates at the intersection of mountain geographies, environmental ethics and posthumanist thought. It speaks to scholars of geography, tourism and conservation who are concerned with how fragile ecosystems are represented and mobilised in contemporary cultural and commercial practices. The key issue addressed is the tendency to treat mountain landscapes and other environments as empty canvases for personal representation, art spectacle and branding—a framing that risks erasing ecological fragility, cultural meaning and local voices. The paper uses the 2025 Rising Dragon fireworks performance in Gyangze County, staged by Arc'teryx and Cai Guo‐Qiang, as a case study through which to explore these tensions. Promoted as a tribute to ‘mountain culture’, the event provoked controversy for reducing the Tibetan Plateau to a backdrop for art and corporate promotion while exposing its fragile ecology to potential harm. We argue that posthumanist geographies and holistic approaches to nature ethics provide valuable frameworks for understanding human–non‐human relations. They foreground the agency of mountains, atmospheres, soils and wildlife in co‐producing cultural performances, while also revealing the politics of representation that exclude community voices and local traditions. The commentary concludes by calling for ethical, inclusive and posthuman approaches to represent and engage with mountains and other environments.