Can Art Help Save This Planet?

Every piece of art on this planet comes from a feeling, whether it’s love, joy, hate or sadness. In order to create that feeling, it must be ignited from within. For me that flame has been burning bright for over 10 years when the ocean connected me to the deepest feeling of love that moved me to dedicate my life to making art to protect it. You don’t necessarily need to have a life changing experience like I did but finding that thing that makes you tick is what will help you look at that blank canvas and not be overwhelmed by the journey ahead. For me as an artist, the power to take a blank canvas and turn it into a piece that can help move, ignite a fire and transport you into a new world is one of the most transformative experiences on this planet. Let me invite you into the artists view on the world and why I believe art can help save this planet.

Every piece of art on this planet comes from a feeling, whether it’s love, joy, hate or sadness. In order to create that feeling, it must be ignited from within. For me that flame has been burning bright for over 10 years when the ocean connected me to the deepest feeling of love that moved me to dedicate my life to making art to protect it. You don’t necessarily need to have a life changing experience like I did but finding that thing that makes you tick is what will help you look at that blank canvas and not be overwhelmed by the journey ahead. For me as an artist, the power to take a blank canvas and turn it into a piece that can help move, ignite a fire and transport you into a new world is one of the most transformative experiences on this planet. Let me invite you into the artists view on the world and why I believe art can help save this planet.

I am a British artist and dive professional, specialising in storytelling through mediums such as paint, photography and writing. I create large scale watercolour and gouache paintings of wildlife interacting with their environment based on my own encounters and I am obsessed with colour, movement, detail and pushing my medium boundaries. My art isn’t just an extension of who I am, it also gives me a voice for nature. Creating doesn’t just serve as a form of personal expression and therapy. It is a also powerful medium to communicate my experiences out in the field, whether that’s diving into the blue or hiking into rainforests. It also serves as an important catalyst to connect you, the viewer, with the incredible planet I have fallen in love with.

I am a British artist and dive professional, specialising in storytelling through mediums such as paint, photography and writing. I create large scale watercolour and gouache paintings of wildlife interacting with their environment based on my own encounters and I am obsessed with colour, movement, detail and pushing my medium boundaries. My art isn’t just an extension of who I am, it also gives me a voice for nature. Creating doesn’t just serve as a form of personal expression and therapy. It is a also powerful medium to communicate my experiences out in the field, whether that’s diving into the blue or hiking into rainforests. It also serves as an important catalyst to connect you, the viewer, with the incredible planet I have fallen in love with.

Art opens the empathy door, inviting you into a world you may not have explored or taking you to a place in your mind you have not investigated. Art helps to provoke feeling and passion which I believe is the foundation to taking the first steps into anthropogenic consciousness.

'Once you love something you will do anything to protect it.'

Art opens the empathy door, inviting you into a world you may not have explored or taking you to a place in your mind you have not investigated. Art helps to provoke feeling and passion which I believe is the foundation to taking the first steps into anthropogenic consciousness.

'Once you love something you will do anything to protect it.'

Working as an artist has brought me into contact with a wealth of different outlooks on the world and introduced me to a vast range of truly different perspectives, ideas and knowledge. Combined with my love and fascination of exploring this planet and diving every ocean possible, being able to take part in these local and global exchanges has profoundly affected the artworks that I make, driving me to create art that communicates the beauty of mother nature which I hope can touch people’s emotions around the globe.

Working as an artist has brought me into contact with a wealth of different outlooks on the world and introduced me to a vast range of truly different perspectives, ideas and knowledge. Combined with my love and fascination of exploring this planet and diving every ocean possible, being able to take part in these local and global exchanges has profoundly affected the artworks that I make, driving me to create art that communicates the beauty of mother nature which I hope can touch people’s emotions around the globe.

Most of us know the feeling of being moved by art, whether it is a song, a play, a poem, a novel, a painting, a film or a photograph. When we are touched, we are moved; we are transported to a new place that is, nevertheless, strongly rooted in the physical experience of our bodies. We become aware of a feeling that may not be unfamiliar to us but which we did not directly focus on before viewing the art. This transformative experience is what good art is constantly seeking. Art also encourages us to cherish intuition, uncertainty, creativity and to constantly search for new ideas; artists aim to break rules and find unorthodox ways to approach contemporary issues. Creatives are, in my view, an essential asset to society and culture.

Artistic communities have been exploring human-nature interactions since the dawn of mankind, yet rapid environmental change has sparked a renewed interest in this issue. Can this very interest within art spark the passion needed to create change? The last five years have seen an unprecedented boom of eco-awareness and activism throughout the art world. The spread of knowledge through the internet allied with rapid communication has allowed individuals across the world to be much more aware of environmental issues. Combined with the popularity of social media, now is a time where artists don’t need to wait for the approval of the art critics. Our electronically connected world allows anyone, anywhere to embrace creativity without boundaries. Certainly an extremely liberating time in history to be an artist and the perfect time to make use of our skills to create positive environmental change.

Most of us know the feeling of being moved by art, whether it is a song, a play, a poem, a novel, a painting, a film or a photograph. When we are touched, we are moved; we are transported to a new place that is, nevertheless, strongly rooted in the physical experience of our bodies. We become aware of a feeling that may not be unfamiliar to us but which we did not directly focus on before viewing the art. This transformative experience is what good art is constantly seeking. Art also encourages us to cherish intuition, uncertainty, creativity and to constantly search for new ideas; artists aim to break rules and find unorthodox ways to approach contemporary issues. Creatives are, in my view, an essential asset to society and culture.

Artistic communities have been exploring human-nature interactions since the dawn of mankind, yet rapid environmental change has sparked a renewed interest in this issue. Can this very interest within art spark the passion needed to create change? The last five years have seen an unprecedented boom of eco-awareness and activism throughout the art world. The spread of knowledge through the internet allied with rapid communication has allowed individuals across the world to be much more aware of environmental issues. Combined with the popularity of social media, now is a time where artists don’t need to wait for the approval of the art critics. Our electronically connected world allows anyone, anywhere to embrace creativity without boundaries. Certainly an extremely liberating time in history to be an artist and the perfect time to make use of our skills to create positive environmental change.

You may be reading this and feeling a bit overwhelmed: so many topics to talk about and creatures to communicate. I certainly felt this way at the start and it took me a few years of experimenting and exploring before I got paint to paper. The key for me is to identify a focus from the myriad of opportunities. Even though I am creating with a purpose, I am still creating for myself: as the saying goes the person who gets the most out of art is the artist. So have fun, release that inner child and enjoy the journey of creating.

Art has been used in cultures to document and record the world for thousands of years. Art seems to be innate to human culture, being used throughout history to document the world around us. It seems that communicating a message through art is an important human skill within a society and something that makes humans stand out from other animals. Art is what distinguishes us and also connects us. It can be argued that illustration in particular is the oldest form of storytelling, allowing those who create to share experiences and bring communities together. This represents an important part of human evolution. Before the 20^th Century and the birth of modern art, humans created paintings with the intention of capturing an image, telling a story or communicating a particular message. European cave paintings, Australian Aboriginal art and Egyptian hieroglyphs show some of the earliest evidence of humans using illustration to communicate a message. You could even go as far to argue that the very symbols I am using to write this piece are a form of illustration; art formed the written language we use today.

You may be reading this and feeling a bit overwhelmed: so many topics to talk about and creatures to communicate. I certainly felt this way at the start and it took me a few years of experimenting and exploring before I got paint to paper. The key for me is to identify a focus from the myriad of opportunities. Even though I am creating with a purpose, I am still creating for myself: as the saying goes the person who gets the most out of art is the artist. So have fun, release that inner child and enjoy the journey of creating.

Art has been used in cultures to document and record the world for thousands of years. Art seems to be innate to human culture, being used throughout history to document the world around us. It seems that communicating a message through art is an important human skill within a society and something that makes humans stand out from other animals. Art is what distinguishes us and also connects us. It can be argued that illustration in particular is the oldest form of storytelling, allowing those who create to share experiences and bring communities together. This represents an important part of human evolution. Before the 20^th Century and the birth of modern art, humans created paintings with the intention of capturing an image, telling a story or communicating a particular message. European cave paintings, Australian Aboriginal art and Egyptian hieroglyphs show some of the earliest evidence of humans using illustration to communicate a message. You could even go as far to argue that the very symbols I am using to write this piece are a form of illustration; art formed the written language we use today.

Today we are living in interesting times. Since the invention of the camera in the 1800’s photography has increasingly become an important tool in documenting the realities of the world. The taking of fixed or still images provided a new medium with which to capture reality and changed the way people in general, and artists in particular, saw the world and in so doing created new artistic opportunities. Photography plays an important role in my art and I see both the importance of photographs and paintings in connecting the viewer and playing on their heart strings to help create that connection needed to bring about change. When I am out in the field, whether that’s diving into the blue with sharks or exploring the magic found on land, combined with sketching, photography is such an important tool for me to use to help capture these special and intermate moments. It would be impossible for me to paint accurate depictions of marine life or the fast movements of a bird flying through the forest without the invention of the camera. Photography is a tool in my art practice that allows me to capture these moments which I can translate using paint in my studio.

In 2019 I started a lifelong project called ‘200 Sharks’. My mission for the 200 Sharks project is to raise awareness about this incredible and venerable species before it is too late. Through the project I am collecting a library of my own stories, photographs and paintings to highlight the beauty of each individual shark and ray I dive with and paint. My artist’s motto is ‘Explore it, capture it, paint it, protect it’. I am a born explorer and creating those important connections from the world around me is vital to my creative process.Without these experiences, stories can never be formed which allow a viewer to connect with the animal or an environment on a deeper level. Through the project I want to illustrate that sharks are not mindless killers but complex, intelligent beings who are more than just a set of jaws. Hunting is only a small part of the sharks life: new discoveries are showing a new side to their character. They have an intricate social life, complex courtship rituals, surprising ways of bringing up their young, intelligent ways of catching their prey, extraordinary powers of navigation and symbiotic relationships with the most unique creatures, even with us. Not to mention they come in the most beautiful array of shapes, colours and sizes: there is certainly much more to them that meets the eye. Through the combination of my stories, photos and artwork I hope to create a series that doesn’t just make you fall in love with sharks but makes you want to protect them and understand the value of having them swimming in our oceans. As apex predators, sharks play an important role in the ecosystem by maintaining the species below them inthe food chain and serving asan indicator forocean health. They help remove the weak and the sick as well as keeping the balance with competitors, helping to ensure species diversity. Destroying shark populations is a step towards destroying our oceans and, in turn, our life support system. So in short, no sharks means no ocean, meaning no life.

Today we are living in interesting times. Since the invention of the camera in the 1800’s photography has increasingly become an important tool in documenting the realities of the world. The taking of fixed or still images provided a new medium with which to capture reality and changed the way people in general, and artists in particular, saw the world and in so doing created new artistic opportunities. Photography plays an important role in my art and I see both the importance of photographs and paintings in connecting the viewer and playing on their heart strings to help create that connection needed to bring about change. When I am out in the field, whether that’s diving into the blue with sharks or exploring the magic found on land, combined with sketching, photography is such an important tool for me to use to help capture these special and intermate moments. It would be impossible for me to paint accurate depictions of marine life or the fast movements of a bird flying through the forest without the invention of the camera. Photography is a tool in my art practice that allows me to capture these moments which I can translate using paint in my studio.

In 2019 I started a lifelong project called ‘200 Sharks’. My mission for the 200 Sharks project is to raise awareness about this incredible and venerable species before it is too late. Through the project I am collecting a library of my own stories, photographs and paintings to highlight the beauty of each individual shark and ray I dive with and paint. My artist’s motto is ‘Explore it, capture it, paint it, protect it’. I am a born explorer and creating those important connections from the world around me is vital to my creative process.Without these experiences, stories can never be formed which allow a viewer to connect with the animal or an environment on a deeper level. Through the project I want to illustrate that sharks are not mindless killers but complex, intelligent beings who are more than just a set of jaws. Hunting is only a small part of the sharks life: new discoveries are showing a new side to their character. They have an intricate social life, complex courtship rituals, surprising ways of bringing up their young, intelligent ways of catching their prey, extraordinary powers of navigation and symbiotic relationships with the most unique creatures, even with us. Not to mention they come in the most beautiful array of shapes, colours and sizes: there is certainly much more to them that meets the eye. Through the combination of my stories, photos and artwork I hope to create a series that doesn’t just make you fall in love with sharks but makes you want to protect them and understand the value of having them swimming in our oceans. As apex predators, sharks play an important role in the ecosystem by maintaining the species below them inthe food chain and serving asan indicator forocean health. They help remove the weak and the sick as well as keeping the balance with competitors, helping to ensure species diversity. Destroying shark populations is a step towards destroying our oceans and, in turn, our life support system. So in short, no sharks means no ocean, meaning no life.

But I haven’t always been a shark and ocean obsessed artist. Growing up I had a phobia of the ocean and this fear came from a bad experience I had as a child, the media, missed information and me being uneducated about both the ocean and sharks. Learning to Scuba Dive at 13 made me realise that fear was all in the mind and my eyes were opened to the amazing new world found below the waves. Since I had a life changing experience with a Thresher Shark at 17 my passion and love was ignited.

Let me transport you to 8 years ago to a much younger me. I was in the Philippines and It was towards the end of our 3 week diving trip, we had seen sharks, ship wrecks, amazing corals and more. I was eager to learn more about the Thresher Sharks after seeing them a few times from a distance. I instantly fell in love with how elegantly they moved through the water and was curious by their shy nature. In particular my encounter with a massive 3-4 meter shark that appeared scared of me left me puzzled and fueled me to want to learn more. So I did a PADI Shark specialty course which involved learning about sharks including the Thresher Shark. On the last day of the course, I had done the classroom work and taken the exam and now it was time to dive with them. We would be going down in a small group of 4, so the chances of getting a closer encounter was much greater. But there was a problem. It was the end of the diving trip and I had developed blocked sinuses, which as you know if you are a diver means you can’t go diving. But I was persistent to have an opportunity to see the Thresher Sharks, so I continued with the dive. We started our descent together and then I hit the wall; I couldn’t equalize at 5 meters. My heart sank watching my twin go down with the other diver master whilst I was stuck in limbo at 5 meters. The dive master was signaling if I wanted to end the dive around 5 minutes in. But I was determined to see a shark, I had a gut feeling that I couldn’t leave the water just yet. 10 minutes go by and I was coming to the realisation that this dive wasn’t going to happen. I remember signaling to the dive master to end the dive and then he pointed to the left, screaming into his regulator. A flash of sliver and blue, I looked to my right to find myself staring into the massive eyes of a 3 meter thresher shark. My heart stopped, not from fear but from wonder and amazement. I was speechless. The thresher shark was about one meter away from me, and I was captivated in its amazing big eyes and in those 30 seconds, I had a deep connection, almost like the shark was talking to me. I realised the shark was intrigued by us, observing us from pure curiosity and not because it was seeing if we were food. The shark circled us a few more times, she got so close that I could have reached out and touched her and then she swam off into the blue. Elegantly gliding through the water with her tail trailing behind her like a snake. It was a life changing experience for me and helped shape my mission in life, to save our incredible blue planet and be the voice these creatures deserve.

But I haven’t always been a shark and ocean obsessed artist. Growing up I had a phobia of the ocean and this fear came from a bad experience I had as a child, the media, missed information and me being uneducated about both the ocean and sharks. Learning to Scuba Dive at 13 made me realise that fear was all in the mind and my eyes were opened to the amazing new world found below the waves. Since I had a life changing experience with a Thresher Shark at 17 my passion and love was ignited.

Let me transport you to 8 years ago to a much younger me. I was in the Philippines and It was towards the end of our 3 week diving trip, we had seen sharks, ship wrecks, amazing corals and more. I was eager to learn more about the Thresher Sharks after seeing them a few times from a distance. I instantly fell in love with how elegantly they moved through the water and was curious by their shy nature. In particular my encounter with a massive 3-4 meter shark that appeared scared of me left me puzzled and fueled me to want to learn more. So I did a PADI Shark specialty course which involved learning about sharks including the Thresher Shark. On the last day of the course, I had done the classroom work and taken the exam and now it was time to dive with them. We would be going down in a small group of 4, so the chances of getting a closer encounter was much greater. But there was a problem. It was the end of the diving trip and I had developed blocked sinuses, which as you know if you are a diver means you can’t go diving. But I was persistent to have an opportunity to see the Thresher Sharks, so I continued with the dive. We started our descent together and then I hit the wall; I couldn’t equalize at 5 meters. My heart sank watching my twin go down with the other diver master whilst I was stuck in limbo at 5 meters. The dive master was signaling if I wanted to end the dive around 5 minutes in. But I was determined to see a shark, I had a gut feeling that I couldn’t leave the water just yet. 10 minutes go by and I was coming to the realisation that this dive wasn’t going to happen. I remember signaling to the dive master to end the dive and then he pointed to the left, screaming into his regulator. A flash of sliver and blue, I looked to my right to find myself staring into the massive eyes of a 3 meter thresher shark. My heart stopped, not from fear but from wonder and amazement. I was speechless. The thresher shark was about one meter away from me, and I was captivated in its amazing big eyes and in those 30 seconds, I had a deep connection, almost like the shark was talking to me. I realised the shark was intrigued by us, observing us from pure curiosity and not because it was seeing if we were food. The shark circled us a few more times, she got so close that I could have reached out and touched her and then she swam off into the blue. Elegantly gliding through the water with her tail trailing behind her like a snake. It was a life changing experience for me and helped shape my mission in life, to save our incredible blue planet and be the voice these creatures deserve.

Art in any form can capture the imagination, tying moments in a viewer’s personal history to the present, much like the cave paintings represent a moment or an environment captured in time. Art has played a key role in the development of our community and culture. It visually defines each and every period since its inception. The innate link between art and the environment demonstrated in cave paintings is also evident today, albeit in a much more evolved form. It is almost a part of our human nature, in our DNA, to communicate the world around us channelled in a creative way, but now so more than ever before. We are all born artists, give any child a piece of paper and a pen and watch their mind explode onto the page with no care in the world what the final destination looks like, just focusing on the art of expression. As we grow older, through school and other people telling you ‘you can do this and you can’t do that’ a lot of people have seem to have lost touch with their inner artistic child. The child within that didn’t care what other people thought of their work, the child who embraced being an artist. I was born to communicate my world through paint, what is your form of expression? If you don’t know then now is the perfect time to experiment with different mediums, push your creative boundaries and also do your own research into environmental and social issues that this world is facing today. COVID-19 has allowed us time and space to think, revaluate the world around us and also see what world we want to live in. It’s passion that will drive your creativity, use it, channel it and make art that speaks for change.

Art in any form can capture the imagination, tying moments in a viewer’s personal history to the present, much like the cave paintings represent a moment or an environment captured in time. Art has played a key role in the development of our community and culture. It visually defines each and every period since its inception. The innate link between art and the environment demonstrated in cave paintings is also evident today, albeit in a much more evolved form. It is almost a part of our human nature, in our DNA, to communicate the world around us channelled in a creative way, but now so more than ever before. We are all born artists, give any child a piece of paper and a pen and watch their mind explode onto the page with no care in the world what the final destination looks like, just focusing on the art of expression. As we grow older, through school and other people telling you ‘you can do this and you can’t do that’ a lot of people have seem to have lost touch with their inner artistic child. The child within that didn’t care what other people thought of their work, the child who embraced being an artist. I was born to communicate my world through paint, what is your form of expression? If you don’t know then now is the perfect time to experiment with different mediums, push your creative boundaries and also do your own research into environmental and social issues that this world is facing today. COVID-19 has allowed us time and space to think, revaluate the world around us and also see what world we want to live in. It’s passion that will drive your creativity, use it, channel it and make art that speaks for change.

So can art save this planet? In short, I believe it can. Art may not in literal terms help decrease the rising sea temperatures or melting of ice caps, but what the arts can do is remind us that it’s possible to save the world. As famously said by Dr. Jane Goodall, “There is still so much left worth fighting for”. Art does not show people what to do, yet engaging with a good work of art can connect you to your senses, body and mind. It can make the world be felt. And this felt feeling spurs thinking, action and change. Art can help you gain that connection and allow you to start implementing more sustainable approaches to your everyday life. Whether that’s voting for green thinking politicians, standing up for social justice, avoiding single use plastic, decreasing your meat and dairy consumption or supporting sustainable brands such as Waterlust. Art in any of its forms has caused change throughout history and now has the opportunity to do so more than ever.

We are all reacting to the visual stimulus of the world around us, whether it’s as simple as making your bed, arranging flowers in a vase or, as I do, reacting to the natural world in paint form. We are all makers, creators, doers and thinkers. Art is an umbrella to a whole realm of different directions, that’s what makes art so exciting: it is endless with no rules and no boundaries. When you are next presented with that blank canvas, try not be so overwhelmed, but excited as creating art is your voice for this world and a single brush stroke can be as powerful as many words. Find that passion, ignite that fire and release that inner child.

So the question I will leave you with is, what artist are you and what change are you going to make with your skill?

There has never been such a liberating moment in human history to be an artist and making art for change.

So can art save this planet? In short, I believe it can. Art may not in literal terms help decrease the rising sea temperatures or melting of ice caps, but what the arts can do is remind us that it’s possible to save the world. As famously said by Dr. Jane Goodall, “There is still so much left worth fighting for”. Art does not show people what to do, yet engaging with a good work of art can connect you to your senses, body and mind. It can make the world be felt. And this felt feeling spurs thinking, action and change. Art can help you gain that connection and allow you to start implementing more sustainable approaches to your everyday life. Whether that’s voting for green thinking politicians, standing up for social justice, avoiding single use plastic, decreasing your meat and dairy consumption or supporting sustainable brands such as Waterlust. Art in any of its forms has caused change throughout history and now has the opportunity to do so more than ever.

We are all reacting to the visual stimulus of the world around us, whether it’s as simple as making your bed, arranging flowers in a vase or, as I do, reacting to the natural world in paint form. We are all makers, creators, doers and thinkers. Art is an umbrella to a whole realm of different directions, that’s what makes art so exciting: it is endless with no rules and no boundaries. When you are next presented with that blank canvas, try not be so overwhelmed, but excited as creating art is your voice for this world and a single brush stroke can be as powerful as many words. Find that passion, ignite that fire and release that inner child.

So the question I will leave you with is, what artist are you and what change are you going to make with your skill?

There has never been such a liberating moment in human history to be an artist and making art for change.