Sustainability and art are my favourite flavours. Perhaps they’re flavours that you might not traditionally mix for an assumed lack of harmony – like a cheese, ham and jam sandwich, which, speaking of, is my flatmate’s favourite (cream cheese, ham and strawberry jam in brioche bread).
Despite my initial assumptions, I’ve come to appreciate the cohesiveness of these dissonant ingredients. Worlds that once seemed extraneous; upon further interrogation actually make a lot of sense together. Something I’ve recently realised extends beyond my physical tastebuds to my metaphorical palate, too.
The proof is in the figures. I don’t just mean that both my flatmate and I enjoy a cheese, ham and jam sandwich; there are many artists experimenting with the discord between the sensory soothing of art and the daunting fate of planet earth. Like said sandwich – it’s unfamiliar, alternative yet innovative, poignant and, actually, totally delicious.
What’s next? I ask myself. Boursin and Nutella? Spam and peanut butter? I don’t know but I’m welcome to new ideas; ideas that seize rebellion and abnormality; infrequency and eccentricity. I think we need them. Actually, it’s kind of all we’ve got.
So, let’s dabble with our ingredients. If not physically then metaphorically. Stick sustainability and art in a sandwich and see how they taste, like artists Richard Mosse (who is capturing some of the most significant humanitarian and environmental crises of our time), Otobong Nkanga (looking at the politics of it all), or Marina Testino (the model and activist who only works with sustainable brands and makes a point by abstaining to a singular outfit at press event) are. I’m moved, I’m distressed and I’m inspired. And, after seeing it, as tends to be the case with visualisation, I’m hungrier than I might have been had I read about it in a data-heavy paper or in new jargon-saturated policy.
Art is easier on the eyes. It makes sense and it doesn’t. Either way it sticks with you. It’s not just loaded in flavour but in hope and promise. Promise that things can be done differently. Or threat that they must.
As much as I wish I was capable of original or philosophical thought, I’m not. I’m a journalist and therefore, I mostly regurgitate. Though, being a column, my column, and therefore focused on whatever I should choose, I do have the freedom to share with you all that enthuses me. So, after a borderline excessive and slightly narcissistic preface (forgive me, I’ve been feeling existential as of late), I would like to introduce you to, and perhaps encourage you to enter, Art Partner’s #CreateCOP28.
The leading global creative agency, Art Partner, is inviting artists and creatives between the ages of fourteen to thirty from around the world to enter in an open call competition to generate conversations surrounding climate justice, corporate greenwashing, material innovation, wildlife and ecosystem conservation, grassroots activism, intersectional environmentalism, regeneration, the physical and mental impacts of the climate crisis, and nature-based wisdom. All the good (if not slightly heavy but very important) stuff.
Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2023 (UNFCCC COP 28), which is set to take place in the United Arab Emirates from 30 November 2023 to 12 December 2023, Art Partner is looking to invoke passion, fuel narrative and drive conversation that could (and should, let’s hope) take place at the conference by providing a platform where the voices of the next generation of concerned creatives are seen and heard.
“The intention of this is to bring attention and awareness to the climate emergency in general, but also, at a time when world leaders are coming together, to focus on how global an issue this is. And, the solution is going to be a global one and we want these people to know that we’re paying attention to what they’re doing, saying and deciding,” says Amber Olson, Senior Agent at Art Partner and mastermind behind the Create COP, a programme which actually started back in 2015 as a climate catwalk (CreateCOP21).
Art being a realm bounded by locked doors which traditionally, despite excessive knocking, remain closed, it’s exciting. Those inside are curious and more welcoming than ever. In many instances, whilst perhaps not swinging totally open, the door is ajar and Art Partner’s is wide open.
“At Art Partner we want to use our platform to give a voice to both the next generation and to people who are underrepresented, perhaps in territories in the southern hemisphere who might be more immediately affected by the damage of climate change.”
Submission closes on 16 October 2023 here and will be judged by a globally recognised panel including Mario Sorrenti (photographer), Willow Defebaugh (Editor-in-Chief of Atmos Magazine), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Artistic Director of The Serpentine) and Jerome Foster II (Climate Activist) for cash prizes of $10k, $5k, $2k. All finalists and honourable mentions will have their work exhibited in a virtual exhibition and eight winners will have their work featured in a physical exhibition in an exhibition hosted at the United Nations head office in New York.
Applicants can apply with any medium, including, but not limited to, photography projects, docu-style and experimental film, performance art, spoken word, musical compositions, fashion design, new media, and social media projects.
You can view last year’s #CreateCOP27 virtual exhibition HERE.