Sixteen powerful artworks were exhibited across the UK and Brazil for the fifth season of The Gallery, Artichoke’s pioneering public art initiative, delivered as part of The British Council’s UK/Brazil Season of Culture with Instituto Guimarães Rosa.
Presented in the leadup to COP30 in Belém this November, the artworks appeared on thousands of outdoor digital screens and billboards across the UK and Brazil, in collaboration with the outdoor advertising industry.
The photosynthesis portraits are part of the duo’s Protector series and features portraits of musician Marcus Decker, Indigenous activist Josimara Baré and poet performer Zena Edwards. Marcus is threatened with deportation following a prison sentence for scaling the QE2 Dartford Crossing; Josimara advocates for the autonomy and institutional strength of the Indigenous communities of Roraima, Brazil; Zena embraces the poetic word to express feelings she has for the awesomeness and drama the world has to offer.
ARTIST’S COMMENT:
In the UK, activists are now imprisoned for peaceful acts of protest in protection of Earth. In Brazil, people are murdered in protection of Indigenous land rights and the Amazon. The powers that be are remorseless and ruthless in their extraction of profit over planetary wellbeing. We’re committed, in collaboration with the activists we work with, to doing everything within our power to peacefully resist this.
CURATOR’S COMMENT:
With these new works, created using photosynthesis on grass seedlings, Ackroyd & Harvey celebrate three inspiring individuals who are each advocating for the environment. The word activist has been appropriated by some as a negative term, and in recognition of this, the portraits powerfully identify their subjects as protectors of the Earth. I love the fact that we have living pieces in this season’s exhibition, that speak to the theme on so many levels
