Exhibition Statement

The Unlearning Intolerance Seminar Series aims to examine manifestations of intolerance and explore means to promote respect and understanding among peoples. Initiated by the United Nations Department of Public Information in 2004, the series offers opportunities to discuss how intolerance, wherever it exists and for whatever reason, can be “unlearned” through education, inclusion and example.

The Unlearning Intolerance art exhibition, Art, Attitudes & Environment, created in 2008 for the Seminar Series, centers on the intolerance of our treatment of our earth and the attitudinal and behavioral changes that must be made in order to protect it. The topics of global warming and environmental preservation are currently at the heart of the development agenda, with governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses and civil society all faced with the challenge of protecting our environment as a means of achieving true human security on a global scale. In the current era, in which scare tactics are most frequently used to generate social action, a unique approach is needed to inspire the general public to take responsibility for our collective future. Artistic expression inspired by our natural environments is a strong emotive way to strengthen community engagement in conservation and preservation.

The works of art featured in this exhibit were created by seven extraordinary artists/activists whose work draws attention to the environment. They hail from vastly different, yet, as their art demonstrates, ultimately connected parts of the world. The regions they individually represent are Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and North America, and Western Asia.

Art, Attitudes & Environment aims to demonstrate to the public that utilizing art as an inspiration based approach in evoking an emotional connection between humankind and nature, can raise environmental awareness, foster environmental values, and inspire reverence and concern for the earth.

Venues

Art, Attitudes & Environment United Nations, New York, 2008

Participating Artists

El Anatsui–Nigeria; Ichi Ikeda–Japan; Subhankar Banerjee–India; Philippe Pastor–Monaco; Cecilia Paredes–Peru; Catherine Chalmers–US; Noor Al-Bastaki–Bahrain