Alexandr Solzhenitsyn

Welcome to the first episode of insights of an eco-artist. I am your host Joana Alarcão . I thought for the first episode I would do a small introduction of myself, why I started this podcast and put myself in the spotlight, and answer some of the pressing questions I ask my guests.

Thank you for joining. I hope you will learn as much as I do and join in for the next one.

The links of my team members

https://isabellarosenelson.co.uk/

www.christopherjacobs.co.uk

https://www.nataliebeech.com/

Don’t forget to Follow in your favorite app so that you don’t miss upcoming episodes. You can also follow us on Instagram @InsightsofanEcoArtist and visit https://insightsofayoungecologicalartist.com/ for more info about the platform and the show. I hope to see you there!!

Transcript

Welcome to the first episode of insights of an eco-artist. I am your host Joana Alarcão . I thought for the first episode I would do a small introduction of myself, why I started this podcast and put myself in the spotlight and answer some of the pressing questions I ask my guests.

First things first, I am an emergent eco-artist, I delve mostly into social and environmental problems from a human lens. Meaning I approach the human form, be it sculpture or drawing, to digest theories or humanitarian issues happening worldwide. Why do I approach the human figure, well it’s scientifically proven we as humans relate with humans, that is why in most social or humanitarian companies you have faces so you actually give a face to a problem or an animal when approaching animal rights. So that is why I work within the human form and because I have a fascination for human beings and what we can do as individuals in all aspects when we take the time to develop ourselves mentally and physically.

A big part of my artistic practice is also writing, it has always been something present in my practice, although It started to have a bigger impact in recent years. I work for NGOs that focus on cultural and environmental issues and at the same time delve into social artists and what their practice is about.

So these avenues of my practice are basically circular because I believe an artist needs to be extremely cultural and specify someone who approaches current events.

For the second part, why did I start this podcast? I think in some way you can decipher why I started it but I will give some details and insights … I started an initiative at the end of 2020, after my masters, it was a platform where I showcased the search I had been doing, approaching environmental and behaviour theories. Later on, I started interviewing artists and entrepreneurs that worked directly with environmental and social consciousness.

It ended up growing into a collective, so I was able to create this team of artists and writers ( I will leave their socials so you can see their work) that also want to make a difference with their practice. They contribute with articles and we are actually working on an exhibition, spoiler alert.

So going back to the podcast, I ended up interviewing artists by zoom for the written interviews and I thought it was such an interesting opportunity, to know these artists and have a deeply knowledgeable conversation, and thought for myself. people would love to be part of this experience. There are so many amazing social and environmental artists, they are doing incredible work so this podcast ends up being an avenue where these artists gather, so if you want to know more about them, you have in one spot.

Now for the last part, the pressing questions.

1. What are your insights into the importance of art as a tool to raise awareness of social or ecological problems?

That is quite a question. I ask myself a lot and I think that artists who work on raising awareness to any cause ended up asking themselves. Because it can be tricky to summarize an issue from your perspective that actually is able to connect with the viewer. I consider that art has such an important role in this. I can give an example, so did this article I think two weeks ago, about the artist Cy Keener. I wanted to weave the events happening in the arctic with the temperatures rising with an artist. And his installations mixture scientific data and the melting Ice, but one interesting particularity about it, is that you are immersed in such a way that is like you are in the arctic in the middle of the ice – the artist even talks about it that way, he wants to recreate how he feels when outside in these particular places. Even though you may not know anything about it, you immediately relate and worry about the temperature rising and the livelihood of people and species inhabiting this land. And that is what it is all about.,

So art has the power to raise awareness of social and environmental problems in a way that is personal, and easy to digest.

What is for you the biggest challenge we face as individuals and Environmental artists navigating the current state of things?

And for me in a very abbreviated way, is the amount of information we are bombarded with every day, it can be extremely difficult to get the exact information without becoming either nihilistic or confused. I can’t even imagine people or artists approaching for the first time ecological and social situations. You end up not knowing where to stand and most of the time, environmentalists or activists have the attitude that it’s all human’s fault and the planet would be better off with us. This is completely infuriating ,we know we cause most of the problems we are facing, nevertheless, it was a cause of unmeasured progress, we have the smallest rate of poverty today, the life expensive is 81, so we should be actually very grateful for what we have and work for the solution and not the problem. blame tossing will get us nowhere. And that I think is the problem we artists encounter because people are already fed up with the current state of things so we need to find a very creative way where people approach the problem head-on and don’t turn around. And also we have to consider ourselves, as we can be quite overwhelmed with the negativity and the number of problems. We need to stop, measure yourselves and then try to do something productive about it.

Anyway, I don’t think this is gonna be a negative or pessimist show, not at all, difficult questions are gonna be asked, but to spark an interesting conversation.

So I hope you are like me when I am working in my studio, on clay or painting. Yes, because I found out when sculpting wood or stone, it’s better to have music and not a complicated conversation, otherwise, you will be extremely exhausted. Nevertheless, I hope you join me when you’re in your creative moment and take some insights from these outstanding artists. Join when going for a walk or in the morning, I don’t know, what turns your crank

So thank you for joining. I hope you will learn as much as I do and join in for the next one.

Follow me on my socials and later on, I hope you subscribe. see you then.