We value the impact of art in fostering societal change and personal growth. Our Artist Spotlight celebrates vibrant voices and visionary talents. We feature artists whose work intersects art, research, and practice, resonating with our mission to inspire positive transformations. These spotlights provide a platform for artists to share their stories, showcase their work, and connect with a wider audience. If you know an artist who captures the essence of change-making through art, nominate them for our Artist Spotlight. Help us showcase the creativity that inspires progress.
Estelle Gautier is a South African artist dedicated to influencing attitudes and behaviours that contribute towards climate change. Through her art, work and studies, she discovered the extent of the devastating effects of climate change, particularly in developing countries where people are living in conditions of poverty and inequality.
Estelle is a PhD student at the University of Cape Town with her study focus being Climate Change Adaptation Monitoring and Evaluation. She holds a degree in Communication, honours degree in Psychology (University of Johannesburg) and a master’s degree in Programme Evaluation (University of Cape Town).
Estelle Gautier is a South African artist dedicated to influencing attitudes and behaviours that contribute towards climate change. Through her art, work and studies, she discovered the extent of the devastating effects of climate change, particularly in developing countries where people are living in conditions of poverty and inequality. Estelle
Josie Chambers is an artist and researcher focused on the intersection of art, social science, and radical imagination. Her work challenges traditional ideas of success, addressing the root causes of social-ecological crises through music, theatre, and mapping, inspiring collective engagement to reimagine just futures. Recent highlights include organizing the UtopiaArtPolitics Sessions, bringing together
Hannelie Warrington-Coetzee (b. 1971, South Africa) is a Johannesburg-based South African visual artist and honorary research fellow at the Global Change Institute (WITS University). Her relational practice regularly centers on public shared spaces and landscapes, where she produces ephemeral to permanent interventions. Originating out of her respect and concern for
EMPATHEATRE Could You Briefly Explain The Driving Force/Motivation Behind Your Work? I have always been driven by tending to the spaces of disconnection. I was very inspired by the artist Joseph Beuys who aimed to sculpt the ‘invisible materials’ between people and the world, and I honed in on empathy.
Ambassador and CDO.ART Registry (art. art),Founder of Art&Tech Digital Agency TECH4.ART, expert, lecturer, and researcher in the field of Art & Culture Tech Could You Briefly Explain The Driving Force/Motivation Behind Your Work? For me, art is the primary force that influences the development of individuals who either already aspire
Could You Briefly Explain The Driving Force/Motivation Behind Your Work? I seek to work with and understand the transformative power of art. My journey began with Forum Theatre in Brazil, where I observed firsthand how art can catalyze social change. I aim to harness this potential to create spaces for
Dr. Shireen Rahimi is an Iranian/American filmmaker, marine scientist, freediving cinematographer, National Geographic Explorer, and founder of Lightpalace Productions, a full-service production company based in Miami. She uses visual storytelling to point to the beauty inherent in our emotional connections with the natural world. Dr. Rahimi has been featured as
Paul Rosero Contreras is an artist inspired by the effervescence of life and its various manifestations—adaptation, resilience, hybridity, and mutualism. His work is a blend of artistic media and scientific methods, aimed at generating both information and knowledge. Paul engages in transformative change-making by intersecting his artistic pursuits with formal
Written by Josh Harrison (representing the Center for the Study of the Force Majeure) Could you briefly explain the driving force/motivation behind your work? Our global motivation is to find ways to help return the world to ecological (and social) balance and to give back more to the life web
In a world where science and activism strive to make a difference, there is a powerful force that we often overlook: artists. At Transformation Community, we firmly believe that artists play a vital role in shaping our society and driving positive change. Through their storytelling and creative expressions, artists have
Could you briefly explain the driving force/motivation behind your work? The driving force behind the work of Sound Matters is the fact that people need to learn to bloody listen if we are to have a hope in hell of addressing the myriad crises we face. By listening, we don’t
Interview What is the motivation behind your work? As an artist I’ve been obsessed with the climate emergency since 2001 and created Atelier21, when I met people from the Swiss IPCC in Lausanne. I was shocked when I realised that extreme weather conditions are coming and saw the inertia of society
Creative practices are underused in the urgent task of changing cultures towards sustainability. CreaTures – Creative Practices for Transformational Futures is EU Horizon 2020 research project investigating the potential of creative practices in art, design, and related cultural fields to support positive eco-social change (a term that is used to
Interview The Driving Force Behind My Work? I see art as being at the heart of society. My gallery in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, is called ‘Maan Neere’. In my language (Moore) it means ‘to do beautiful/good’ but it has a double meaning of making something aesthetically appealing that also morally
Interview The Driving Force Behind My Work? The years ahead of us are years of repair for the catastrophes that we have wrought, from fossil fuel emissions that lead to the climate emergency, to habitat destruction that lead to disease, to rising inequality worldwide that lead to social unrest. I
Interview The Driving Force Behind My Work? In the early nineties, I founded two conservation groups that engage in public awareness through publications, an exhibition, we engage in the support of research and conservation of emblematic species like jaguars, quetzals, pronghorns, whales and many more, and we manage to secure
Interview with Sarah Smuts-Kennedy Could You Briefly Explain The Driving Force/Motivation Behind Your Work? I am interested in systems thinking that encourages balance in an otherwise unbalanced world. You could call it performing the possibility of healing. More recently I am thinking of my practice as the attempt to co
Interview with Félix Pharand-Deschênes Could You Briefly Explain The Driving Force/Motivation Behind Your Work? I could write a long origin story. To keep it short though, the driving motivation of my work with Globaïa is to inform and inspire people about global socio-ecological issues through the mighty combination of science
Interview with Elizabeth Monoian & Robert Ferry Could you briefly explain the driving force/motivation behind your work? Our four primary motivations are to bring forward solutions to address the climate crisis, to help accelerate our transition to a post-carbon economy, to build a catalog of regenerative artworks for different site
Interview with Moriko Mori Could you briefly explain the driving force/motivation behind your work? My driving force is a never-ending question about the mystery of life, death, and rebirth. One of the concepts behind Tom Na H’iu was rebirth which I was inspired by prehistoric culture. Every time, I searched
