Introduction
The Climate Change Mural Project is a Scotland wide visual celebration of positive climate change action. An unrelentingly positive approach showing why climate action matters. Our aim is to blow people’s minds, strengthen connections with the environment and inspire positive change.
In short… we’re painting murals all over Scotland to promote positive action on climate change to align with Glasgow hosting the UN Climate Change Summit COP 26 in November 2021.
Why
Street art is the most accessible form of contemporary art, often influenced by political and social issues. Its shared obsessively on social media, attracts the mass media and so has great power. It changes landscapes and communities for the better, making it a perfect medium to inspire change in diverse communities across the country.
We’re engaging with these communities and discovering how climate change will affect them by getting the personal stories. What specific to Scotland will be lost? Every country will be able to relate to what could be regarded as a visual biography of Scotland’s climate issues. What action can we all take? We want to enlighten and inspire people, and perhaps this could be the missing link for some to understanding and embracing the changes required.
We want to showcase what we love and what we stand to lose, what we may take for granted. To present the negatives in a positive way, looking at what we could lose if we don’t act. This is not about doom and gloom, it is a wonderfully ambitious, beautiful and uplifting artistic project.
Very importantly the project will be carbon neutral as we engage in practices to reduce our impact and offset everything else in the most credible schemes.
Locations
We have locations across the Highlands and Islands, the cities of Scotland, and everywhere in between. We are tackling eyesore buildings in areas of raw natural beauty, areas on the front line. We don’t want to disrupt the environment, we want to integrate, add beauty and meaning.
Picture an abandoned building on a sea cliff in the north of Scotland being transformed into a positive message about sea levels. The drone footage flying over forest tree tops, reaching a clearing where an industrial structure sits, which is now a piece of art showing why the forests are so vital. Or a tenement gable in Glasgow highlighting the benefits of efficient energy use to the thousands who pass every single day. The stories are numerous, the canvases vast and diverse. Peatlands, historically significant locations, the list goes on.
***We still need a few buildings and intriguing canvases! We’d like to invite you and the people you know to help us find the last few buildings/structures needed for the project. Do you own a building? Work for or know someone that does? Or just think you know the perfect location? Please get in touch.
Artists
We will be working with a carefully selected lineup of Scotland’s top visual artists, the brightest emerging talent, and some internationally recognised superstars who are already highlighting climate sensitive subjects. It is an extremely diverse and exciting line up, which we can’t wait to share.
Key Dates
COP 26 was due to start in Glasgow on the 9th November 2020, but was postponed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. The new dates (announced on 28th May 2020) will be 1-12 November 2021. See UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021.
We had planned to start painting in summer 2020 on a strategically run schedule leading towards November. Painting will now begin in summer 2021!
Sponsor & Support Opportunity
We’re already working with some of the most environmentally forward thinking businesses in the country, representing many different sectors of the Scottish economy, who are each sponsoring an individual mural. In many cases tackling a climate opportunity close to their hearts. It is an esteemed bunch! Including many market leading players and exciting names. We’re delighted to have them on board in a project that is going to receive massive exposure domestically and internationally. An amazing opportunity for us to all to create together.
***There are still opportunities to be involved as a sponsor of a mural. Please get in touch.
Quotes
Dr Martin Valenti Head of Climate Enterprise at Scottish Enterprise: “These spectacular images will be a bold statement about Scotland’s aspirations for promoting climate opportunity and for raising awareness of why we need to take a strong leadership role in driving to net-zero 2045. The true power of Scotland as illustrated beautifully in Glasgow is its people, so seeing these striking and inspiriting images not just in Glasgow but across Scotland will remind us of why we are tackling climate change and why all of Scotland is involved.”
Ali Smith from artpistol Projects: “We’ve been working on this for a long time now, so the 1 year delay due to Covid is no issue and in fact is only going to make the project even more epic. More time to consult communities, explore the environmental opportunities, fine tune logistics and really make the artworks something extraordinary. We can’t wait.”
Press
We’ve been on Radio Scotland to introduce and discuss the project and here is an article from The Scotsman. We’ve been deliberately low key in the press until we officially launch the project soon, but if you’d like to discuss anything then please get in touch.