Create4Adelaide Digital Exhibition
Create4Adelaide Digital Exhibition content
Welcome to Create4Adelaide!
We’re so excited to have you join us at the Bicentennial Conservatory at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens as part of the 2024 Adelaide Festival.. Create4Adelaide (C4A) started way back in March 2023, where young people were invited to vote on their top three climate priorities.
With just over 2,000 votes, young South Australians told us that their top three priorities were:
- Extinction of plants and animals
- Extreme weather events (bushfires, floods and droughts)
- Pollution of our air and waterways
With young peoples’ voices at the front, we entered a year of creativity and activism. 1067 people submitted their artworks to C4A and more than 2000 people came back to vote on their favourite artworks… and now here they are!
From the Ruth, Théo, Pierre, Caitlin and Poppy (the team from Adelaide Festival and Sabir):
By young people. Before landing here in South Australia, Create4 was born in Glasgow, during COP26 in 2021. As world leaders, scientists, economists and activists were meeting to face and tackle climate change, young people decided to take matters into their own hands to make their voices heard. Their goal: come up with collective and creative solutions to tackle climate change.
With young people. Young people have been involved with the project from start to finish. From voting for their top climate change priorities to choosing the finalists’ artworks, young peoples’ voices have been the driving force. They are the ambassadors and spokespeople, bringing their demands to public decision-makers.
For young people. From Glasgow to Adelaide, Create4 is committed to providing young people with the necessary tools to express themselves. Through artist-led workshops in classrooms, small groups, or as individuals, these creative processes have been designed for the empowerment of the young generation.
This journey is just beginning. Listen to these young people, discover their work, feel the strength of the values that unite us. And above all… make your voice heard and take your place in this race for the planet!
From Lia Karabatsos, the emerging curator:
I dare to imagine myself in old age. Ideas of a loud, warm house full of grandchildren slip through my fingers like sand as I realise that, due to the consequences of rapid global warming, these children will not have the easiest lives. My life roadmap, lovingly passed down from generations before me, can no longer guide me. We are exploring a completely different terrain. I do not know if it’s ethical for these grandkids to even exist outside of my imagination at all. Am I being overly dramatic? Has every generation before me felt this way, too?
In the Create4Adelaide exhibition, artists from across South Australia along with international entries have shared their personal, powerful and complex responses to climate change. From poetry to sculpture to video, the wide range of mediums presented echo the diversity of opinions, concerns, and feelings on the subjects. It is the strong love for our planet, for our animals, and for our future that unifies these works. Hopefully, this love will unify our actions to make a significant change!
As you experience this exhibition today, please give yourself permission to slow down. To savour this moment for what it is; not perfect, but real and ours. The modern art goer spends around 15 to 30 seconds looking at a piece of art. While even a glimpse at artwork can be transformative for onlookers, I am setting you a task; challenge yourself to look. Really give each artwork time and you will see things that are secret, funny, sad, brave, and true. Allow yourself to fall into this delicious mossy world of wonder.
As you journey through the exhibition, there are multiple moments where we invite you to scan a QR code. These are moments to hear poets speak their own words, or to find out more about an artwork.
Polar Bears
Syed Hamdan Ayaz & Dani Nur Hamizan Mazwardi
This artwork is a team effort by artists Syed Hamdan Ayaz and Dani Nur Hamizan Mazwardi.
They made it by crumpling up many small pieces of coloured paper, giving the artwork a bumpy and rough feel.
It features an icy scene with two polar bears and an orca.
The artwork may be showing us that as the Earth gets warmer, the icebergs
are melting. There’s a bright green and yellow border around the important
part.
What do you think the yellow spots could mean?
Water Spirit Molecule
Shania Richards
In this painting by artist Shania Richards, the colours are like a dreamy underwater world.
Water Spirit Molecule uses dots of different sizes lined up to create a special effect; it looks as if the water is deep and moving!
This painting is fun to look at, because you can imagine it as either a birds-eye view or looking through a microscope.
What animals do you think would swim beneath the dark waters of this artwork?
Squadron
Simone Ridge-Cooke
Artist Simone Ridge-Cooke created this artwork, showing five bird friends flying through the air.
The title, Squadron, tells us that they are buddies.
The artist used lots of different sizes of circles to make it look as if the group is flying over a moving ocean.
The audience is left to wonder why this group has taken flight, and where they are headed.
With rising temperatures contributing to extinction, maybe these birds are looking for a new home.
Where do you think they are going?
Save Us
Ruby Woodward
Woodward uses pictures of landscapes and plants as a background to layer extra visuals onto.
Green, brown and blue colours mix well together to make a living scene.
With small possums and bats framing the 3D text title, Save Us, the artwork has a clear message to audiences to spring into immediate action!
Winds of Nature
Students from Seaford Rise Primary
School
with Carclew and artists Rosina Possingham
and Cassie Thring
This artwork is like a fun game of ‘Where’s
Wally’, but with Australian animals and plants!
The artists from Seaford Rise Primary School used a solution called cyanotype to print copies of flowers using the rays of the sun. They also used acrylic and gauche paints to paint over the top. This creates a layered and full effect.
In the middle, a bird lands with its wings wide open.
Can you imagine the wind from its wings making everything around it move?
Leatherback Turtle
Lockhart Arasu
This bright piece shows a birdseye view of two turtles swimming side by side.
Underneath the ocean’s surface, another world asks viewers to take a closer look.
Artist Lockhart Arasu uses bright and dark colours to show us both deep and shallow areas of the water.
Where do you think these turtles are going?
Western Pygmy Possum Habitat
Annika Byrne
Artist Annika Byrne has created a midnight family portrait. Surrounded by shiny stars, a trio of Western Pygmy Possums look up towards the crescent moon.
As their habitat disappears, the viewer is left to wonder – where will these animals go?
Save the Reefs
Amelia Neave
Like activists before them, artist Amelia Neave uses a poster style to stir up audiences and call attention to injustice.
Watercolour paints create a pretty ocean scene showing animals in pairs exploring their environment, however, litter can be seen invading their space.
Do you agree with this poster?
It's Their World Too
Students from Murray Bridge High
School
Artists at Murray Bridge High School worked
together to make this collage.
Showing animals traveling in their ecosystems,
each creature has enough space.
With no humans shown in the artwork, the only
human who gets to see this scene is the viewer.
The title, It’s Their World Too, helps us understand the importance of looking after our planet – for every being.
Ngunku
Students from Playford International College
with Carclew and artists Rosina Possingham
and Cassie Thring
This artwork is like a big puzzle made by artists at Playford International College!
It zooms away from humans to show the special home of Australian animals existing together.
Even though there are lots of animals shown, they all have enough space to run and play. Named Ngunku, after the Kaurna word for “Returning”.
Why do you think they chose to give this artwork its title?
Pink Collage
Students from Hospital School SA
with SALA and artist Will Cheesman
Made of reclaimed images, artists at Hospital School SA have collaborated to create this collage.
Mixing together images of flowers, grasses,
animals and humans, this imagined ecosystem is balanced against a crisp white background.
Pink Collage gives viewers the opportunity to appreciate the busy beauty of our natural world, a gift presented to us, before it is too late.
Save the Reef!!!
Juliette Johnston
Using a splatter background method, artist Juliette Johnston puts forward a simple slogan, Save The Reef!!!
An orange octopus floats on the lefthand side of the artwork, with one eye looking directly at the viewer, as if the octopus is saying these words.
How many legs can you count on our friend?
On Extinction
Stevie Zhao
With the failing nature of time
I hope we do not for that we exist,
That once upon a time
That fleeting juvenile joy
That overflowed from our
Limp and tired hands was
The only currency
Which we had
With autumn comes a time
To repent
I pray that I am forgiven for
Mistaking your beauty for glass,
Carve symbols into my heart
So that through signs unseen
I will not forget the moment
We shared through glass
Child
forgive me for laying to rest
the person I once was.
You see, we move fast and
pace is not really
a currency I am rich in
Car shuttle moving from
one pole to another
To use time comes
Sitting pretty enough is
Pretty enough
Mallee Emu-Wren
Elise Marangone
This little bird, a Mallee Emu-Wren, sits on a high up branch.
The artist, Elise, used lots of different mediums to make it – including cardboard, glue, oil pants, and real leaves!
The background is shimmery purples, blues
and greens – what do you imagine this bird
is thinking about?
Kuinyunta Yarta
Students from Playford International College
with Carclew and artists Rosina Possingham
and Cassie Thring
Made up of many pieces of A3 paper, this collage brings together the work of many students from Playford International College.
This artwork zooms away from the human world to focus on the natural world that surrounds us. By centering our gaze on animal life, the artists pose a question to viewers: what about the other life on this earth?
The title, Kuinyunta Yarta, translates to “sacred
ground” in Kaurna. A nice reminder that the land we walk on is special, and that we are
always connecting to country.
Bee
Berkeley Hilton
Artist Berkeley Hilton put forward their first
exhibited piece – Bee.
Using mixed media, water colours, markers, and collages, Hilton creates the organic figure of a bee mid-flight.
With wide eyes staring directly at the viewer, we are allowed to share a private moment with our new buzzing friend.
A love heart shape is placed on their left cheek – perhaps a reminder to view all animals (no matter how small) with tenderness.
Giraffe
Sophie Reid
Artist Sophie Reid’s artwork depicts a colourful giraffe against a crisp black background.
With its gaze looking directly at the viewer, we are invited into a private moment with our new friend.
Untitled
Ardif
Nature, architecture, and technology combine to put forward the image of this detailed whale.
Swimming against a white background, the massive ragged animal looks directly at the viewer, as if to invite us into the artwork itself.
What would you talk to this whale about?
Warning
Students from Horizon Christian School
This 3D artwork is made up of 27 smaller artworks from artists at Horizon Christian School.
Using pipe cleaners, cardboard, paints, pencils and patty pans, this artwork presents a beautiful underwater scene.
The boxes backgrounds are a beautiful blue, creating a nice contrast between the fun colours of the animals and plants. There are 5 boxes in
the middle of the artwork that have been left without colour.
This, coupled with the title Warning, shows viewers what may happen to oceans if we continue to pollute.
What do you do to look after our oceans?
A Call to Action
Allegra Morelli
The Swing
Seth
In this black and white artwork, framing jail
bars are used to pull the eye to the central
character.
A child sits on a swing made of vines, overseeing the sky in front and land below.
Seth with Street Art Rebellion has chosen to remove the two middle bars that should
be trapping her.
The effect makes it appear as if this child
has ‘broken free’ of their constraints
The Flame
Jessica Auckland
A creature, an animal,
It goes by many names.
But those who understand it,
Call it a flame.
A red fiery mass,
That spreads when the leaves are dry,
It concurs the forest,
And leaves nothing behind.
Nothing can stop it,
It makes everything drop.
It keeps on going,
Like it will NEVER stop.
It happens every year,
This tragic event,
But people are working,
To help prevent.
So join those people,
And get LOUD!
Talk about it so much,
That no one can prevent the sound.
Everyone will have to hear about it,
And then they can make their move.
After all, in this world,
There is nothing to lose.
Our Climate is Changing, So Can We
Vanessa Pine
Artist Vanessa Pine encourages viewers to make a change and save our climate!
Using layering techniques to create a striking piece, the lush rolling hills in the background contrast with the red, smoky sky. This looks like a bushfire.
In big letters overtop, the title Our Climate Is Changing, So Can We! stands proudly. Shadow outlines of First Nations’ symbols, windmills, and rubbish adorn the letters.
What small changes can you make to help
the climate?
Bushfires
Emmi Tunn
This vivid collage shows pieces of stories around bushfires.
From plants being burned, to animals running away, and even humans fighting fires with hoses and helicopters, this artwork is full of connected events.
Artist Emmi Tunn uses oranges, reds, brown
and cream colours to emulate the burnt Australian landscape.
If you were in this artwork, what piece of
paper would you be on?
Disaster Emu
Hyun-Woo Cho
Against a white background, an emu is presented to viewers.
Artist Hyun-Woo Cho carefully chose and placed individual images of current natural disasters inside the emu’s body.
Rubbish, air pollution, and fires fill this native Australian animal to the brim. This artwork asks audiences to consider the animal lives that may be lost to natural disasters. When things are scary, they aren’t only outside your body – they get inside too.
Will you protect our animals from carrying
fear of climate change?
On Extinction
Gaion Tompkins
Taint is multifaceted by nature
unwilling to leave it’s conquest at
just the mind of body
taint spreads like a plague,
reaching every corner of the soul or body
Harm brings people and worlds
rich and poor
those mortal and those not
onto an even playing field
where the strongest love
and the weakest die
Death reaches forth with slimy hands,
unwilling to let any evade its grasp for long.
Death brings despair,
despair brings harm
this order is flexible.
Empress Akinyi
Yseult 'YZ' Digan
YZ started out as a painter, but gradually
turned to street art.
With one obsession: to reveal the powerful women in our communities and offer a new way of looking at them (YZ is short for Eyes).
Atop nine planks of wood, the original artwork shows a person looking directly at the viewer, inviting a moment of connection.
Artist YZ shines a light on indigenous
cultures around the world and their
sustainable relationships with the land.
Burning Bush
Hanna Krysinska
Using mixed media and collage, artist Krysinska highlights the importance of bushfire prevention.
Greens, reds and greys are used to create this piece depicting a koala narrowly escaping flames below.
In bold writing, the ethos of this painting is
made clear; STOP BUSHFIRES!
What can you do to help stop bushfires?
The Big Melt
Anonymous
A panicked feeling is captured in this artwork – the race against the clock before your ice cream melts!
Shown as a big scoop of ice cream, our earth’s drippy continents are melting off the cone.
In letters to the righthand side, a gloomy warning is spelled out.
How does this piece of artwork make you
feel?
What steps can you take to stop this big
melt?
Our Munda
Kobe Dodd
Year by year our planet is getting hotter,
poor mother nature it seems like they forgot her.
The land that once had a spark
is turning slowly into dark.
Our Munda our earth our country where we rest our heads,
where we lie.
We have to come together and try,
we must not let our beautiful planet die.
Bushfires
James Bowman
Made up of different overlapping photographs, coloured paper, and mixed media, artist James Bowman puts forward an active piece.
Using oranges, reds, greens, browns and light blues, this artwork shows the colour palette of bushfires interconnected with the animals, plants and humans that they hurt.
If you were to add a piece to this artwork,
what would you add?
Hot enough to fry an egg
Muhammad Daniyal & Alaa Trabolsi
from Pinnacle College with SALA and artist
Tara Rowhani-Farid
Hot Enough To Fry An Egg is a team effort by Muhammad Daniyal and Alaa Trabolsi.
They used the “scrunch” technique, crumpling pieces of paper and gluing them onto their base.
This gives the artwork a textured, 3D, and
interesting look. With browns, blues, reds and yellows, this piece is full of vibrant colors.
It shows our Earth under a magnifying glass,
catching fire under the sun’s deadly rays
Highway
Anonymous
This artwork is like a puzzle made by cutting
and pasting pictures, called a collage.
It shows a very busy road put right over the
top of rocks, trees and rivers.
The artist is trying to make you
wonder – haven’t all roads been placed
over pretty nature spots?
How do you take charge to keep our land
and air clean?
Day By Day
Lucas Retallick
Day by day
Night by night
The sun and moon never shined so bright
Whilst I stand here with the sky so bright
I wonder what I can see in my sight
I run with my love in the wunda
Whilst I listen to the thunder of my siblings fight
I wonder if I will touch the light
Two Possible Worlds
Chloe Reid
Chloe Reid has a special way of telling an artistic story through their mirror image art.
Two earths are shown side by side, like twins, but with totally different stories.
One earth has clear blue skies and happy,
healthy plants.
Sadly, the other earth looks overrun with
pollution and browning nature.
The title of the artwork is a message - Two
Possible Worlds. This means we get to pick which world we want to live in.
What do you do to choose a planet with clean air, blue skies and happy plants?
Sickness
Kaela Forbes
In this artwork, our Earth is like a big cartoon
character.
With bold lines and full colours, the Earth is wearing a face mask to stay healthy.
The background is all bright and white, making our planet stand out.
The artwork is called Sickness, and that’s a big hint about what it’s talking about.
The artist, Kaela Forbes, used simple pictures to tell us something important and strong.
Failure
Gaion Tompkins
Failure is persistent a self-feeding loop.
First-time failure as a recoverable, but the 100th failure?
It’s akin to breaking your neighbours legs and asking
them to run.
So may manage to walk,
some may even jog,
but most will give up
adding another tally
to a seemingly endless count
another reason to stick in their lane?
Trouble Breathing
Jade Hoffmann
Pollution
Chris Best & Southern Vales Christian College
I feel sad for the animals who eat the plastic and died or
Pollution is a very bad thing that is on this earth.
Pollution is caused by people littering.
It kills many fish.
Rubbish in the street makes me feel like getting
revenge.
Extinction makes me feel
sad because my favourite animal
can go extinct.
Microplastic Meal
Zafir Rahman & Haider Al-Zurifi
Untitled
Sixo
This artwork uses lines that go thin, thick, wavy, and diagonal to make shadows. Against a white background, Sixo presents two humans in a big hug. It looks as if they want to kiss each other, but they can’t because they are both wearing giant gas masks!
Above them, a quote says “Let’s not accept to live in a unbearable world”.
What do you think the artist is trying to say?
Street Art Rebellion - Tree Roots
David De La Mano
There is NO Future with Pollution
Sarah Beaumont
In this black and white drawing, artist Sarah Beaumont shows us a busy world full of buildings and factories, covered in thick smoke.
This artwork asks us to think about how we’re
taking care of our planet for the kids of tomorrow.
Even though most of the trees have been cut down, one still stands tall!
This is to give us hope for a better future.
Why do you think the artist chose to make the picture in black and white?
Earthly Lava
Zainab Ali from Pinnacle College with SALA and artist Tara Rowhani-Farid
This artwork uses scrunch art to make a textured, colorful, and interesting piece. Picture layers of the earth, covered in lava waves against a bright blue sky. With temperatures going up, we're seeing more natural disasters.
This artwork is a reminder from artist Zainab Ali to take care of our planet.
Do you know what lava is called when it is still underground?
Embracing the Tempest Kolkatas Monsoon Saga Along the Ganges
Shubhodeep Roy
Using photography, artist Shubhodeep Roy captures a place where nature and humanity combine.
Embracing The Tempest Kolkatas Monsoon Saga Along the Ganges shows a human standing on our ocean’s shore, with cupped hands.
Behind them, a bridge holds up passing travelers.
We do not know if they are throwing something into the water or scooping water up.
What we do know is that this artwork encourages viewers to stand firm, embrace the change and flow with our planet.
Save the Reef
Kate Hillman
Turtles, jellyfish, crabs, coral and more! Artist Katie Hillman has illustrated an Australian coral reef with watercolours, coloured pencils and oil pastels.
Even though there are lots of animals and plants shown, there is enough space for everyone to swim and play.
The artwork makes audiences wonder –
how can I keep this ecosystem safe?
Frankie finds a new world
Edward Johnson
This circluar artwork uses pictures that
have been cut and pasted onto a different surface, like a collage.
Orbited by three mini-earths, love, grandparents, babies, and life, a representation of our planet takes center stage.
Artist Edward Johnson reminds us that our Earth is special and worth saving with beautiful blues, greens and pinks.
Turtle
Tegan Sampson
Artist Tegan Sampson has created a 3D artwork.
Swimming on a black background, this turtle is made from wire, bottlecaps, and bread tags - things that you might find polluting our oceans.
This is a way of reminding us how much rubbish is in our oceans, how it can affect animals, and that we need to take action to fix it!