28/09/2018
Hi everyone! I can finally reveal what I’ve been hinting at with my last few posts! I’M SO EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO REVEAL THIS!!! I have been holding my tongue about this since I made the artwork back in July!
Okay so to start off; as you would have seen in my last few posts, they have mainly centred around Sketch for Survival. This is an art exhibition being run by Explorers Against Extinction to raise funds through donated artworks for two major projects, which I will mention shortly. The exhibition will run through five or six different galleries, including London and New York. More details will be posted below on this as well.
The main theme for this year’s campaign was a 26 minute sketch, as one elephant is poached or killed every 26 minutes. This is why the campaign poster is of an elephant with the number 26 repeated several times. Artists such as myself were asked if we could contribute a sketch to raise awareness of this issue. Several sketches have been donated as well as original artworks like my own.
Last year they made an amazing £50,000 from about 145 artworks that had been donated by artists around the world. The funds went towards an anti-poaching dog team as well as orphan elephant calf rescues.
This year, instead of 145 artworks, 476 artworks have been catalogued from over 30 different countries of over 60 different endangered species! Celebrities have also contributed to the campaign, including Nick Park (Wallace and Gromit animator) and Sophie Thompson (Harry Potter and Four Weddings actress). There are many others who have contributed but I cannot list them all! I personally contributed to this campaign through the artwork pictured below of a tiger eye.
This piece honestly means so much to me and I found it incredibly hard to send off as I became very attached to the piece. I called it ‘Within Me You See the End’ (with the help of two of my friends they know who they are). To start off with, the photograph I based it off captivated me as soon as I came across it. A special thank you to Joey Meijer on wildlifereferencephotos.com for your stunning photograph.
This piece was created on an A4 sheet of paper using graphite only. To me, this tiger has gone through everything, hence the name I gave him. The emotion held within this one part of the tiger further demonstrates how the eye can tell a story without a scenario or anything. As a spirit animal, a tiger is said to represent willpower, courage and strength, which do not seem to be present in this tiger. He seems to have lost himself, his own traits, just to survive. That is what he conveyed to me through his eye, that loss of personality and life. He inspired me so much throughout the process of drawing and reminded me of what I wanted to do in my future. He looks like he has lost the will to go on and this leads me to my next part.
I am supporting this campaign as I strongly believe in animal conservation, hence it is why I am studying a Bachelor of Science (Zoology) and Bachelor of Natural Science (Animal Science). I am aiming in the future to be part of animal conservation efforts to ensure a balance is formed between people and animals, not just us or them. We can’t just keep expanding and destroying what is left of these animals habitats until they’re gone. If this happens no one will ever be able to see them again. I believe animal conservation needs to start being more successful soon to stop the extinction rates from rising. We have already seen what happens when a species goes extinct. Take Sudan the Northern White Rhino as your example. His species is essentially extinct now as he was the last male. They are working on reproductive techniques as we speak but this may not be possible for every single species.
Now onto the next part of this. This year the campaign is aiming to raise enough funds to support an anti-poaching six dog team in Garamba National Park in Africa, which will help to protect elephants as well as the critically endangered Kordofan Giraffe. The exhibition will also support the Tiger Protection and Conservation Units who are aiming to protect the Sumatran Tiger. This second project is being co-ordinated by Flora and Fauna International. More details will be released on this particular project later on.
This is the link to ‘Within Me You See the End’, which takes you to a bidding page for it (I’m not asking you to bid don’t worry). This is the link here to my artwork https://explorersagainstextinction.irostrum.com/BiddingProcess/BiddingScreen/2045334?pageNumber=6.
The link to the whole auction site is provided here. You can search in the bar at the top if you would like to look at a particular category of animal (cats, primates etc) or a specific artist, such as the celebrities. There are also tabs where you can look at the tour dates and specifics as well as more details on the projects being supported. This is the link here http://explorersagainstextinction.irostrum.com/.
So what I am asking you to do is to please share this post as far and wide as you can to raise support for this amazing campaign and the work they do! And if you want to contribute to the cause you can bid on an artwork or purchase items from the Explorers Against Extinction shop! This is the link to the shop here http://www.explorersagainstextinction.co.uk/explorer-shop.
These are their social media profiles and tags if you want to tag them on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook!
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Instagram and Twitter:
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And just to finish off, thank you to everyone who has read this and seen what I am supporting, and thank you if you decide to share this post and support the campaign! Also thank you to the team behind the Sketch for Survival campaign for providing this opportunity and supporting conservation efforts!
