WWF ANNOUNCES ART FOR YOUR OCEANS SELLING EXHIBITION AT SOTHEBY’S, LONDON

WWF announces Art for Your Oceans Selling Exhibition at Sotheby’s, London. WWF and Artwise curators in association with Sotheby’s are excited to announce Art For Your Oceans, a selling exhibition of specially commissioned works by 16 leading international artists, devised to raise funds and awareness for pioneering ocean conservation initiatives by WWF in the UK and further afield. The exhibition will go on view in Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries from 7-15^th May 2025 (free and open to all).

The Art For Your Ocean artists are: Max Boyla, Andrew Cranston, Laura Footes, Laura Ford, Anya Gallaccio, Antony Gormley, Nick Goss, Mona Hatoum, Lubaina Himid, Emily Kraus, Harland Miller, Beatriz Morales, Daisy Parris, Emma Stibbon, Emma Talbot and TROIKA. 

Art For Your Oceans will be the first time an exhibition has been created using OCEAN INK®, the world’s first sustainable and fully biodegradable water-based ink, produced by OCEANIUM in Scotland from sustainably farmed seaweed. This globally important project will shine a light on the potential of seaweed as an invaluable tool in the fight against climate change and as a new artistic medium in the hands of our critically acclaimed AFYO artists. 

Artist, Emma Talbot said:

“The prospect of learning more about seaweed – it’s properties and potential uses, really intrigued me. My research has previously been bound to earthly terrain – to extend it to ocean health and conservation was literally opening another realm. It’s interesting to consider the ways artistic practices can adapt to the urgencies and emergencies of their times, as well as raising awareness of the efforts that are being made to forge a viable future.

Artwise Director Laura Culpan said:

“On a recent trip to Scotland with Harland Miller and Emma Talbot, we were able to see what is happening with the seaweed industry there, from harvesting to production of a spectrum of environmentally friendly products. This even included an advanced look at the seaweed-based ink, OCEAN INK, which will be the starting point for new artworks created especially for this project. We are excited to see how artists and collectors will respond to Art For Your Oceans.”

OCEANIUM CEO and co-founder Karen Scofield Seal said:

“Art For Your Oceans is a fantastic initiative to show the unique properties and potential of OCEAN INK, while contributing to WWF’s pivotal ocean conservation work. OCEAN INK can replace harmful solvent-based inks and is more sustainable than traditional water-based inks due to its fully biodegradable components.”

Our oceans are vital for the future of our planet, providing us with at least 50% of Earth’s oxygen, absorbing around 30% of carbon dioxide produced by human activity and support the livelihoods of an estimated three billion people globally. Art For Your Oceans will support WWF’s mission to give oceans a healthier future by focusing on specific projects to reverse ocean decline.

Seaweed farming provides an opportunity to revolutionise how we think about ocean health, climate mitigation and coastal livelihoods. Seaweed can help tackle what WWF calls the ‘triple challenge’ of keeping global temperature rise to below 1.5C, restoring nature, and meeting the wellbeing needs of a global human population. Seaweed acts as an underwater forest that absorbs carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous, making it a water purifier, while also creating a new habitat for a diversity of marine life. Seaweed as a food is full of nutrients and excitingly it has the potential to be used as an alternative to animal feed to reduce methane gases and as a bioplastic to replace plastic packaging.  In the future it could be used to fight climate change by replacing carbon-intensive products and supporting a lower-carbon food system.

AFYO will continue the important legacy of projects including Art For Your World (2020) and Tomorrow’s Tigers (2018- 2022) which have raised £2.2 million for vital conservation work. Funds raised by AFYO will support projects which are focussed on ocean health. Examples of WWF-supported projects seeking to improve ocean health include Wales’ first community-owned regenerative ocean farm at Câr y Môr, producing sustainable seaweed and shellfish; the reintroduction of native oysters to the Firth of Forth, absent for over 100 years, through the Restoration Forth programme; and the regeneration of the world’s tropical coral reefs through the Coral Reef Rescue Initiative. 

Mollie Gupta, Seaweed Solutions Project Manager, WWF UK:

“Our oceans are not only the home to some of the world’s most amazing wildlife, but also are vital for human livelihoods and fighting climate change. At WWF we are really excited about the potential that regenerative ocean farming could offer in supporting the UK to rise to the challenge of meeting our food and wellbeing needs whilst also helping to restore nature. The artworks created for Art for Your Oceans will shine a light on the amazing leadership and work being done in regenerative seaweed farming, and the funds raised will help considerably in our fight to bring our world back to life.” 

THE OCEANS: A SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE:

• Our oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface.
• Provide over half of the global oxygen supply.
• Absorb over a quarter of the carbon dioxide we produce and regulate the climate.
•  Despite the vastness of the oceans, human activity is devastating ocean ecosystems. 
• At a time when humankind is faced with the triple challenge of feeding a growing population, keeping global warming below 1.5 °C, and reversing the decline of biodiversity, our oceans are our most powerful ally.

Image: Antony Gormley WITHIN (FOR THE OCEANS), 2024 Seaweed ink on paper