(eco)nversations | GREEN ART 2012

Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC)
23 to 25 November 2012

During the 2012 Cape Town Green Expo in association with National Geographic Channel 281, 8 artists exhibited artworks and art installations that sparked conversations about our connection and relationship with our natural environment.

Eight Artists, One Planet

Each artwork in some way talks to and about: nature, the earth, the natural world, the planet, the ecosystem, the biosphere, our natural heritage – and our place within it.

The participating artists for 2012 were:
Janet Ranson, Simon Bannister, Janet Botes, Claire Homewood, Stefanie Schoeman, Kai Lossgott, Danelle Malan and Nicolle Marais.


Read the Green Art Manifesto written by Kai Lossgott as part of (eco)nversations: (pdf) / (read online)
Read an introduction to ‘Green Art’ >>

This exhibition was conceptualised and organised as an integrated part of the 2012 Green Expo, one of its main aims being to offer Expo visitors the opportunity to view and engage with art that is dedicated to raising awareness, changing perceptions or inspiring appreciation for our environment. The artists exhibited were chosen for their personal and individual philosophies, convictions and the way that they express these in their creative work. 

Most of the artworks on the exhibition are quite conceptual and they vary in the use of material and different art forms. They are inspired by the underlying themes, solutions and causes of the environmental crisis and global warming, and they seek to involve, invite and inspire people rather than berate, depress and belittle the viewer. 

I hope that you find the works as inspiring and thought-provoking as I do, and that their image(s) live in your mind or heart in a way that may change or enrich your way of life and your interaction with and within nature. 

As artist and curator, as a woman and as a human, I believe that we are nature, as much part of it as each tree, praying mantis and raindrop. By not respecting and embracing all living things and the landscape, soil and earth that sustains us, we are destroying and discarding ourselves. When you reconnect with nature within and of yourself, you reconnect with everything around you. And when you rethink, recycle, respect, reuse and rehabilitate things, your life and the spaces around you will be enriched and these practices will become second nature. 

This exhibition was made possible through the collaboration, cooperation and generous support as well as help of some amazing individuals. I would like to thank each of the artists: Kai, Nicolle, Danelle, Stefanie, Janet, Simon and Claire: thank you all for your participation, hard work and effort with your own art and also as part of the group. Thank you Kai, for writing the manifesto which brings everyone’s voices together so eloquently. 

I would also like to acknowledge and thank Chris Naude, Robyn Carstens, Radi van Zyl, Thea Butler and Eljanne Lochner for their support, effort and encouragement, as well as everyone involved with the Collage Mural Project. And last but not least, thank you to the family members of the artists and anyone else who helps us to be the artists we are, fighting for the things we love.

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