Art For Your World is a new campaign for WWF, led by curatorial practice Artwise, to mobilise and unite the art world in the fight against the climate crisis.

The campaign #ArtForYourWorld ran on Instagram from September through to November to align with COP26 (26^th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties taking place 1–12 November in Glasgow)  – the defining moment for our future and the health of our planet.

From practising artists to commercial galleries, cultural centres to museums and beyond, this is a wide call to action for the cultural sector to come together with a united voice to say that climate change matters and we must act now.

The funds raised by Art For Your World will be used to support key areas of WWF’s work that contribute to combatting dangerous climate change, such as: halting deforestation; supporting communities; restoring trees and forests; replanting seagrass meadows; protecting endangered species; and promoting sustainable lifestyles

Founded 60 years ago to drive funding and support for conservation, WWF remains at the forefront of the fight against the climate and nature crisis today. While conservation efforts over this time have led to victories for nature, the mission has grown exponentially. Every year the challenges become tougher and there is still much work to be done.

From poverty to wildlife extinction, so many of the world’s biggest challenges are made more difficult by climate change. Things will only get worse if we do nothing but we can still do something about it.

Through Art For Your World we want to bring together the creativity and generosity of the art world and help support WWF in the frontline fight against the climate crisis.

This project is devised, curated and produced for WWF by Artwise.

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Interalia Magazine interview with Susie Allen and Laura Culpan, partners at ARTWISE

Can you begin by saying something about your backgrounds?

Susie Allen is the Founding Director Artwise. In 2004 she was the Founding Chair of the Royal Academy of Art’s first Contemporary Patron Group, was on the Crossrail Art Panel and is currently on the Advisory Panel for The Line – London’s first public art walk. Laura Culpan was curator at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea in Trento, Italy before joining Artwise in 2004. Laura has been a Director at Artwise for over 10 years and in 2019 she became a partner in the company along with Susie Allen. Laura is also currently a curatorial advisor for the Line and has recently relaunched and runs the Mark Rothko Memorial Trust artist-in-residence programme. Laura is responsible for initiating and delivering highly ambitious, large-scale projects, museum exhibitions and art related events at an international level.

Can you give an overview of some of the projects ARTWISE has been involved in?

Artwise is a long-established and award-winning London based curatorial practice specialised in advising, curating and delivering bespoke contemporary art exhibitions, commissions and projects for a variety of clients across multiple sectors worldwide. Since our launch in 1996, we have worked with clients including British Airways, Fiat, Lloyd’s of London, the Francis Crick Institute, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and The Cure Parkinson’s Trust, curating work by artists including Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin, Julian Ope, Hussein Chalayan, Rachel Whiteread, Andy Warhol, Gavin Turk, Ugo Rondinone and many more. We are proud that Artwise projects have enabled over £4 million to be raised for various charities over the years. We relish the opportunity to think differently about how art can engage with an audience, communicate a message and ultimately make a difference.

Art For Your World is a campaign devised and produced by ARTWISE for WWF. How did this come about, what are its aims and what do you see as its outcomes?
We have a long-standing relationship with WWF UK as a client, having carried out initiatives including Tomorrow’s Tigers, a project to address the threats faced by tigers in the wild, featuring specially commissioned rugs designed by 10 internationally renowned artists. Art For Your World came about when we were asked by WWF to come up with a project to mark their 60th anniversary, since it coincided with the UN’s COP26 climate conference, which took place in Glasgow this year. Conservation and environmental issues have been the focus of a number of our projects over the past decade, so it made sense to focus this project on the future of our planet, how the art world is adjusting and what WWF is doing to lead change. The aims were to raise funds for five specific WWF projects and to unite the diverse sectors of the art world to amplify the message that we as a sector care and need to work together to help make changes. We have successfully raised over £1m already and fundraising is still happening. Our limited edition print sale, available via Rise Art, is continuing until January.

What future projects do you have coming up?

We are excited to be planning our fourth edition of Cure3 for Cure Parkinson’s that takes about a year to produce and will be happening at the end of 2021/beginning of 2022. We are keen also to continue with Art For Your World as a platform to unite and engage the artworld in environmental matters

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As part of the Art For Your World campaign, we have commissioned three limited edition prints from acclaimed artists Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Heather Phillipson and Bob and Roberta Smith.

Chila Kumari Singh Burman

Chila Kumari Singh Burman: Fierceness in Scarcity, 2021. Limited edition print comissioned by WWF for Art For Your World.

Fierceness in Scarcity by Chila Kumari Singh Burman incorporates inkjet and screen-printing along with hand-cut collaged elements that add the artist’s signature sparkle. Tigers often feature in Burman’s work, as a personal symbol from childhood (her father’s ice-cream van featured a leaping tiger) and also a connection to her Indian roots (she was born and raised in Liverpool but her parents emigrated from India in the 50s). The tiger image in the new commission for Art For Your World warns of a species in danger that WWF is working hard to preserve – we have lost over 95% of tigers in the wild in the last century.

What is the underlying focus of your work?
At the centre of my practice, is the drive to introduce society to different perspectives of Britishness. Highlighting the invaluable contribution of previously overlooked communities in this country and to reshape many of the narratives prevalent in art history and wider society. I achieve this in a number of ways, but I remain inspired by identity, memory, feminist perspectives, mythology and my Hindu Punjabi heritage.

Can you tell us about your limited edition print, Fierceness in Scarcity, commissioned for Art For Your World?
Fierceness in Scarcity is my limited edition print created for Art For Your World. I’ve incorporated inkjet, screen-printing and hand-cut collaged elements into the piece, ensuring of course that the tiger (in varying forms) takes centre stage, framed and surrounded by lush green. This print will raise funds for this fierce and clever tiger. We’ve lost over 95% of tigers in the wild in the last century, a shocking and appalling amount. I want to see these majestic creatures in our lives for years to come, we have to take action now and this was my way of using my art to make a difference and support WWF’s campaign.

Tigers often feature in your work. When did this theme originate and what is its importance to your creative process?
Growing up, my father’s ice cream van had attached to its roof a large Bengal tiger figurine. As I got older I came to recognise what that tiger symbolised, and to me it was my father’s brave reference to his cultural diversity. I think this bravery is what I’ve come to see the tiger as representative of, I’ve sought to call attention to diversity in Britain through my use of the tiger, highlighting the beauty it has brought to our societies. The tigers fierce, resilient and gentle qualities as well as their ability to survive despite human intervention also inspires my creative process. They are such majestic creatures and to me have become symbolic of survival. My use of the tiger is intended to remind us to retain our unique, clever and powerful qualities, much like the tiger, despite what is happening around us in an ever-changing world.

What projects are you currently working on or have coming up in the future?

My installation piece Blackpool light of my life is currently lighting up the façade of the Grundy Art Gallery. While my works are also currently on display in Art & Intensive Care at Cork Street Galleries in London, until early December, the Royal Academy Summer Show 2021 until the new year and Grayson’s Art Club at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery until September 2022. I have also recently taken over the Tate Edit Shop at Tate Modern, and my works are installed in Victoria Beckham’s Dover Street and Anthropologie in Bath. I will be in discussions with Frances Morris in a special talk at Tate Modern on December 10 and I have an interview with Meave Doyle at Soho Radio on December 3. In terms of upcoming projects, I have a Late at Tate Modern Projects coming up in January and a solo show in the works at NIMA in Moscow, Russia.

Heather Phillipson

Heather Phillipson: what the seagrass says, (2021) commissioned by WWF for Art For Your World

what the seagrass says, by Heather Phillipson, is a drawing of seahorses made with marker pen on discarded cardboard. The replanting of seagrass meadows around the UK is one of the WWF’s key projects being supported by Art For Your World. Seagrass meadows are one of the world’s most productive ecosystems, providing shelter and feeding ground for many species of endangered wildlife, including seahorses; they also play a crucial role in regulating our climate. Heather Phillipson’s reuse of waste packaging, with its casual drawn marks, its ‘FRAGILE’ graphic, and its directive to HANDLE WITH CARE, smartly inverts the neglected and abandoned and invites us to reconsider what’s valuable. 

What is the underlying focus of your work?
My print responds to one of the WWF UK’s key initiatives, to replant and restore seagrass meadows in UK waters. Seagrass is sensitive and a home for multitudes and a barometer for what we’re wrecking. We need to attend to the seagrass and what the seagrass is telling us.

Can you tell us about your limited edition print, what the seagrass says, commissioned for Art For Your World?
‘what the seagrass says’ is a drawing of seahorses made with marker pen on discarded cardboard, now reproduced as an editioned print. This reuse of waste packaging, with its ‘FRAGILE’ graphic, and its directive to HANDLE WITH CARE, inscribed with casual drawn marks, is an attempt to invert the neglected and abandoned, and an invitation to reconsider what’s valuable.

Why are seagrass meadows important to the ecosystem?
Seagrass meadows are vital for biodiversity and marine life – harbouring up to 30 times more animals than bare sediment. They are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, providing spawning, shelter and feeding grounds for endangered wildlife such as seahorses. A 10,000m2 area can support 80000 fish and over a million invertebrates. Additionally, seagrass captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests and, even though it only covers 0.2% of the sea floor, it absorbs 10% of the ocean’s carbon each year, making it an incredible tool in the fight against climate change.

In the UK, up to 92% of our seagrass has disappeared in the last century. WWF is working with Sky Ocean Rescue and Swansea University to bring these incredible underwater meadows back to life, by launching the biggest seagrass restoration project ever undertaken in the UK. One million seagrass seeds have been collected this summer from various sites around the country by a team of volunteers. The seeds will be cultivated before being planted in Dale Bay in Pembrokeshire this winter, an area of special interest to me personally, where they will grow into a 20,000m2 seagrass meadow.

What projects are you currently working on or have coming up in the future?
The lifelong projects – observing, imagining, dreaming.

Bob and Roberta Smith

Bob and Roberta Smith (2021) commissioned by WWF for Art For Your World

Bob and Roberta Smith is known for his colourful, text-based slogans painted onto placards and banners. He believes passionately in arts education, having created statement paintings such as ‘Art Makes Children Powerful’ and ‘All Schools Should be Art Schools’ in his signature style. For this new commission, the movement’s title ‘Art For Your World’ was deemed significant enough to be the chosen slogan for this latest piece of artistic activism. Aside from the widely available print, the artist is also donated the original painting to a charitable auction at Sotheby’s, 8-15 October 2021, to raise funds for Art For Your World.

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https://artforyourworld.wwf.org.uk/

Art, Climate Change, Creativity, Culture, Ecology, Environment, Nature